Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs S23 Ultra

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.9-inch Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite) that was released on January 22, 2025, against the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, which is powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy and came out 2 years before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
  • 78% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (3128K versus 1762K)
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Shows 10% longer battery life (28:43 vs 26:01 hours)
  • Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
  • Delivers 12% higher peak brightness (1429 against 1278 nits)
  • The phone is 2 years newer
  • 59% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 3202 and 2010 points
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
  • The rear camera has a 10x optical zoom
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and S23 Ultra crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

Should I update?
No 66% Yes
Yes, we think most users will notice the upgrade.
Updating from Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra to Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra makes sense and should feel noticeably better in daily use.
Main improvements: gaming, performance, and camera.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED Dynamic AMOLED
Size 6.9 inches 6.8 inches
Resolution 1440 x 3120 pixels 1440 x 3088 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.3:9
PPI 498 ppi 500 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (1-120 Hz) Yes (24-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness - 1200 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 2600 nits 1750 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Touch sampling rate 240 Hz 240 Hz
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Armor 2 Gorilla Glass Victus 2
Screen-to-body ratio 92.4% 89.5%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 97.7% 96.9%
PWM 240 Hz 240 Hz
Response time 1 ms 2 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
1429 nits
1278 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 162.8 mm (6.41 inches) 163.4 mm (6.43 inches)
Width 77.6 mm (3.06 inches) 78.1 mm (3.07 inches)
Thickness 8.2 mm (0.32 inches) 8.9 mm (0.35 inches)
Weight 218 g (7.69 oz) 233 g (8.22 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber Vapor chamber
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Silver, Gray, Blue White, Black, Gray, Blue, Green, Red, Purple
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Repairability Good (3.23/5) -
Drop resistance Excellent (A) · 270 drops -
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy
Max clock 4470 MHz 3360 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 6) 8 (1 + 2 + 2 + 3)
Architecture - 6 cores at 3.53 GHz: Oryon (Phoenix M)
- 2 cores at 4.32 GHz: Oryon (Phoenix L)
- 3 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A510
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A710
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A715
- 1 core at 3.2 GHz: Cortex-X3
L3 cache 8 MB 8 MB
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 3 nanometers 4 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Hexagon
GPU
Graphics Adreno 830 Adreno 740
GPU shading units 1536 1536
GPU clock 1100 MHz 680 MHz
FLOPS ~3379.2 GFLOPS ~2089 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 26581 9254
Single-core score 3202 2010
Multi-core score 10347 5245
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
3128552
CPU 987646 556398
GPU 1190760 445907
Memory 362214 285085
UX 587932 474949
Total score 3128552 1762339
Samples [66 tests] [31 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 61% 81%
Graphics test 17 FPS 8 FPS
Graphics score 2272 1098
3DMark Solar Bay
Stability - 77%
Graphics test 40 FPS 20 FPS
Section 1 50 FPS 23 FPS
Section 2 40 FPS 20 FPS
Section 3 29 FPS 18 FPS
Graphics score 10441 5383
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 56% 69%
Graphics test 34 FPS 22 FPS
Graphics score 5827 3723
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Web score 21582 17072
Video editing 8625 7852
Photo editing 34425 33655
Data manipulation 17556 13329
Writing score 26844 19857

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-29 (VortexGen)AnTuTu 123414404
📘 2026-09-06 (Trexsotiy)Battery lifeSOT 12:30 / 03:16
📘 2026-09-02 -> Mohamed_136Battery lifeSOT 8:02 / 17:11
📘 2026-08-29 (PaWK)AnTuTu 113034536
📘 2026-08-23 (Apple Slayer)AnTuTu 113254557
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-28 -> Saad_irqAnTuTu 121959121
📘 2026-09-23 (Horizon377)AnTuTu 121894819
📘 2026-09-19 -> PhonePornAnTuTu 121873287
📘 2026-08-07 (Turtle tech)AnTuTu 111789039
📘 2026-07-21 (Jedidiah)AnTuTu 111621561

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 5300 MHz 4200 MHz
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 256 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 UFS 4.0
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 16)
ROM One UI 8.0 One UI 8.0
OS size 30.4 GB 39.9 GB
OS updates 7 years 4 years
Security updates 7 years 5 years

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 5000 mAh
Max charge power 45 W 45 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (25 W) Yes (15 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Bypass charging Yes Yes
Fast charging Yes (72% in 30 min) Yes (68% in 30 min)
Full charging time 0:59 hr 0:59 hr
Battery cycles 2000 cycles -
Battery life tests
Web browsing 11:10 hr 09:57 hr
Watching video 19:32 hr 15:38 hr
Gaming 06:22 hr 06:22 hr
Standby 132 hr 130 hr
General battery life
28:43 hr
26:01 hr
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (69th and 139th place)

Main camera

Matrix 200 megapixels 200 megapixels
Image resolution 16320 x 12240 16320 x 12240
Zoom Optical, 5x Optical, 10x
Flash LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 30FPS
4K video recording Up to 120FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 240FPS Up to 120FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 960 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 200 MP
2) Telephoto: 50 MP
3) Telephoto: 10 MP
4) Ultrawide: 50 MP
1) Standard: 200 MP
2) Telephoto: 10 MP
3) Telephoto: 10 MP
4) Ultrawide: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 200 MP 200 MP
Aperture f/1.7 f/1.7
Focal length 23 mm 23 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL S5KHP2 Samsung ISOCELL HP2
Sensor size 1/1.3" (≈ 0.77 inch) 1/1.3" (≈ 0.77 inch)
Pixel size 0.6 micron 0.64 micron
Autofocus Laser autofocus Laser autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 50 MP 10 MP
Aperture f/3.4 f/4.9
Focal length 111 mm 230 mm
Sensor Sony IMX854 Sony IMX754
Sensor size 1/2.52" (≈ 0.4 inch) 1/3.52" (≈ 0.28 inch)
Pixel size 0.7 micron 1.12 micron
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 50 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/1.9 f/2.2
Focal length 13 mm 13 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL S5KJN3 Sony IMX564
Sensor size 1/2.5" (≈ 0.4 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 0.7 micron 1.4 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh 165 70
Preview 81 73
Zoom 137 141
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra from DxOMark Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 4000 x 3000
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Sensor Samsung S5K3LU Samsung S5K3LU
Sensor size 1/3.2" (≈ 0.31 inch) 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1.12 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No
DxOMark front camera
Photo - 139
Video - 145

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5.4 5.3
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes, DP 1.2 Yes, DP 1.2
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 1 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* - 20
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced January 2025 February 2023
Release date February 2025 February 2023
Launch price (MSRP) $1299 $1199
Successor - Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra - Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
SAR (head) 1.25 W/kg 0.96 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.42 W/kg 1.4 W/kg
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Not included Not included
Further details
Notes on Galaxy S25 Ultra:
    - Supports up to 2 eSIMs. The international model has 2 physical SIM slots, while the U.S. version has 1.
    - Uses Grade 5 titanium and Corning Gorilla Armor 2 glass on both sides.
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
529 (32.7%)
1087 (67.3%)
Total votes: 1616

User opinions

You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below
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Avatar
camera February 24, 2025 at 04:38 PM
also no camera tests yet.. it seems that cameras are getting worse and worse..
0 Reply
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N10tv February 11, 2025 at 04:39 AM
S25 Ultra is just S23 Ultra++ (s24 Ultra is S23 Ultra+) :LOL
+18 Reply
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Winnie February 6, 2025 at 08:29 PM
Where are the rounded edges on the new Samsung S25 Ultra. Pictures do not look any difference to my Sansung S23 Ultra. Is this truth or just speculation
0 Reply
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Wow February 1, 2025 at 06:36 AM
Samsungs last great phone, the s23 Ultra
+19 Reply
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ComputerNerd December 10, 2024 at 06:10 PM
The S23 Ultra is still an excellent cellphone, but the S25 Ultra seems to outperform it in pure CPU performance, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. As someone who owns an S23 Ultra, I wouldn't upgrade. However, those with an older cellphone or switching off of iPhones, the S25 Ultra is a great cellphone on paper.
+21 Reply
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nothing January 28, 2025 at 09:26 AM
lol, s25 ultra is is just a refreshed s23 ultra, and who f would go from iphone to samsung
+4 Reply
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N10tv February 11, 2025 at 04:40 AM
nothing, Yes S23 Ultra ++ :LOL
+5 Reply
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ComputerNerd July 7, 2025 at 08:50 PM
nothing, Many have left iPhone for Samsung S25 after the "Apple Intelligence" scandal. They are flooding the Samsung reddit page with question for new Samsung users.
+5 Reply
Avatar
Yad January 4, 2026 at 05:53 AM
nothing, Literally anyone who isn't brain dead would
+1 Reply