Category: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

Samsung introduced a new display feature with the Galaxy S24 Ultra and has only improved it on its latest flagship. The Galaxy S25 Ultra’s screen lies under the protection of Corning Gorilla Armor 2, which is a step above the typical Corning Gorilla Glass found on most smartphones.

The Gorilla Armor series debuted with last year’s Galaxy S24 Ultra and brought anti-reflective properties that claimed to lower surface reflections by “up to 75 percent.” It was a genuine quality-of-life upgrade as it improved screen visibility in harsh lighting and enhanced durability. It delivered over four times better scratch resistance and up to three times better drop resistance compared to “competitive aluminosilicate cover classes.”

However, many users reportedly experienced washed-out colors and decreased vividness on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Over time, that screen was said to have more permanent smudges than its predecessor. Samsung appears to have listened. With the Galaxy S25 Ultra, the company has addressed those concerns to deliver a more refined screen experience. I’ve used the phone on and off since its launch in January, and I believe every phone should adopt this feature.

The best screen on a smartphone

“Gorilla Armor 2’s anti-reflective properties dramatically reduce surface reflections in both indoor and outdoor ambient settings,” claims a Samsung Newsroom post. It is one of the few bits of smartphone marketing I fully agree with.

If you’ve used an iPhone under direct sunlight, you’ve likely noticed how the screen acts as a mirror, amplifying smudges and fingerprints. Even with 2,000 nits of peak brightness, the glare can make it a frustrating experience. You might also find yourself adjusting the phone’s angle repeatedly just to make text or images legible. The brightness is there, but visibility isn’t always guaranteed.

That’s not the case with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Its 6.9-inch display stays easily readable in harsh lighting conditions. There’s no awkward angling or hand-shading required. You simply look at the screen, and it’s clear. This anti-reflectivity makes everyday use more enjoyable, whether you’re checking emails outdoors or watching videos indoors with overhead lights. The experience feels more natural and less fatiguing to the eyes.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra delivers a more vibrant and sharper screen, as compared to the S24 Ultra. That legibility extends indoors, too. Watching videos in a brightly lit room often introduces glare on most phones and you’re left adjusting the angle to counter that. It is not something you need to worry about with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. It is one of those features that won’t show up in benchmark numbers, but once you’ve experienced it, it’s hard to go back to a regular display.

Samsung and Corning haven’t compromised on durability to achieve a better anti-reflective screen. Samsung claims, “Compared to first-generation Corning Gorilla Armor, Gorilla Armor 2 offers enhanced durability — devices equipped with Gorilla Armor 2 are even better able to withstand the rough and unpredictable nature of daily life.”

Gorilla Armor 2 is said to survive drops of up to 2.2 meters on concrete surfaces. While I haven’t done any lab-style drop tests, the two times I accidentally dropped the phone from waist height, it came out unscathed. In my three months of usage, I haven’t noticed any permanent smudges or micro-abrasions, which bodes well considering the long-term smudge issues some experienced with the S24 Ultra.

I wish more phones had anti-reflective screens

Most Android flagships and iPhones use proprietary display protection glass in 2025. But none of them offer anything quite like Gorilla Armor 2’s anti-reflective properties. Samsung, too, has restricted it to its top-tier S-series model. I hope Gorilla Armor 2 trickles down to other Galaxy S-series phones, and that Apple takes note for the next generation of Ceramic Shield on the iPhone 17 Pro or the iPhone 18 series.

This isn’t a flashy spec that shows up in specs comparison tables. It doesn’t boost benchmark scores or headline launch events. But for the user, it makes a meaningful difference every single day. Whether you’re texting in bright sunlight, scrolling indoors with overhead lights, or simply watching content without distractions from reflections. It just works better in most scenarios.

Samsung introduced a new display feature with the Galaxy S24 Ultra and has only improved it on its latest flagship. The Galaxy S25 Ultra’s screen lies under the protection of Corning Gorilla Armor 2, which is a step above the typical Corning Gorilla Glass found on most smartphones.

The Gorilla Armor series debuted with last year’s Galaxy S24 Ultra and brought anti-reflective properties that claimed to lower surface reflections by “up to 75 percent.” It was a genuine quality-of-life upgrade as it improved screen visibility in harsh lighting and enhanced durability. It delivered over four times better scratch resistance and up to three times better drop resistance compared to “competitive aluminosilicate cover classes.”

However, many users reportedly experienced washed-out colors and decreased vividness on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Over time, that screen was said to have more permanent smudges than its predecessor. Samsung appears to have listened. With the Galaxy S25 Ultra, the company has addressed those concerns to deliver a more refined screen experience. I’ve used the phone on and off since its launch in January, and I believe every phone should adopt this feature.

The best screen on a smartphone

“Gorilla Armor 2’s anti-reflective properties dramatically reduce surface reflections in both indoor and outdoor ambient settings,” claims a Samsung Newsroom post. It is one of the few bits of smartphone marketing I fully agree with.

If you’ve used an iPhone under direct sunlight, you’ve likely noticed how the screen acts as a mirror, amplifying smudges and fingerprints. Even with 2,000 nits of peak brightness, the glare can make it a frustrating experience. You might also find yourself adjusting the phone’s angle repeatedly just to make text or images legible. The brightness is there, but visibility isn’t always guaranteed.

That’s not the case with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Its 6.9-inch display stays easily readable in harsh lighting conditions. There’s no awkward angling or hand-shading required. You simply look at the screen, and it’s clear. This anti-reflectivity makes everyday use more enjoyable, whether you’re checking emails outdoors or watching videos indoors with overhead lights. The experience feels more natural and less fatiguing to the eyes.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra delivers a more vibrant and sharper screen, as compared to the S24 Ultra. That legibility extends indoors, too. Watching videos in a brightly lit room often introduces glare on most phones and you’re left adjusting the angle to counter that. It is not something you need to worry about with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. It is one of those features that won’t show up in benchmark numbers, but once you’ve experienced it, it’s hard to go back to a regular display.

Samsung and Corning haven’t compromised on durability to achieve a better anti-reflective screen. Samsung claims, “Compared to first-generation Corning Gorilla Armor, Gorilla Armor 2 offers enhanced durability — devices equipped with Gorilla Armor 2 are even better able to withstand the rough and unpredictable nature of daily life.”

Gorilla Armor 2 is said to survive drops of up to 2.2 meters on concrete surfaces. While I haven’t done any lab-style drop tests, the two times I accidentally dropped the phone from waist height, it came out unscathed. In my three months of usage, I haven’t noticed any permanent smudges or micro-abrasions, which bodes well considering the long-term smudge issues some experienced with the S24 Ultra.

I wish more phones had anti-reflective screens

Most Android flagships and iPhones use proprietary display protection glass in 2025. But none of them offer anything quite like Gorilla Armor 2’s anti-reflective properties. Samsung, too, has restricted it to its top-tier S-series model. I hope Gorilla Armor 2 trickles down to other Galaxy S-series phones, and that Apple takes note for the next generation of Ceramic Shield on the iPhone 17 Pro or the iPhone 18 series.

This isn’t a flashy spec that shows up in specs comparison tables. It doesn’t boost benchmark scores or headline launch events. But for the user, it makes a meaningful difference every single day. Whether you’re texting in bright sunlight, scrolling indoors with overhead lights, or simply watching content without distractions from reflections. It just works better in most scenarios.

As I prepared for a long weekend break, I wanted to take a capable Android phone with a good camera with me, ready to capture my adventures. I put my SIM card into a fresh Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and set the phone up purely for entertainment, as I wanted to ignore work emails and messages as much as possible. I spent four days with the phone, and here’s what I discovered revisiting the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

The shape is still a problem

The Galaxy S25 Ultra is flat. Very flat. The sides are flat, the screen is flat, and the corners are far less curved than previous models. It’s a big, slab-like block, and far from attractive. Not everyone will care if it’s a good-looking phone, but everyone should care if it’s comfortable to hold, and after revisiting the Galaxy S25 Ultra I am sad to say it’s not. 

I returned to the S25 Ultra after a string of other phones, ranging from the OnePlus 13, the Google Pixel 9a, and the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, and all are more comfortable to hold. The problem is the phone digs into your palm, the sharp edges are noticeable when you grip it, and as it’s also a bit of a slippery thing, you really do have to keep hold out of it. 

I was using the phone for fun, passing some free time browsing Reddit and Threads or playing Magic: The Gathering Arena, but the S25 Ultra didn’t encourage me to pick it up because of the comfort problems. My Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max is far more ergonomic, and much more pleasing to hold for longer periods of time. I found I’d force myself to use the S25 Ultra, and it shouldn’t be that way. 

The screen is the best you’ll see

It’s a shame I didn’t feel happy about holding the S25 Ultra for a long time, as the screen is the best I’ve used on a smartphone. Amazingly for the U.K., it was very bright and sunny on my break, and the S25 Ultra’s anti-reflective screen really came into its own. It’s hard to photograph to demonstrate just how effective it is, but it removes the harsh reflections which stop you seeing what’s going on, and crucially, it works really well at different angles.

This matters most when you want to take photographs. Rarely do the best photos come when you hold the camera directly in front of your face, which is why strong viewing angles are important on a smartphone. I could always see the camera’s viewfinder, regardless of the angle I held the phone at or the lighting conditions. It’s a superb screen, and eclipses every other smartphone you can buy at the moment. 

The intense brightness also helped in these conditions, but this wasn’t what made it work so well. Instead, it’s the automatic brightness adjustment. I only once reached for the manual brightness control, as the phone did such a good job of balancing the screen’s brightness to the conditions. The only time I remember using the manual control was after using the phone outside, and it was a beat to slow to adapt when I went back inside. But I’d rather it be too bright than too dim. 

What about the camera? 

Before I chose the Galaxy S25 Ultra I was close to picking up the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, but my own words were in my mind before I made the final decision. I fell for the Xiaomi 15 Ultra’s camera when I used it somewhere I didn’t know very well, after being a tiny bit disappointed with it when I reviewed the phone taking photos locally. I haven’t been that excited by the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s camera, and have been surprised at how the main camera in particular hasn’t met expectations. Going on a trip with it may change my mind about it. 

The landscape meant I used the main and the wide-angle camera the most, and the consistency between the two is impressive, sharing balanced colors and contrast, even in challenging light. Photos straight from the camera are a little too natural-looking for my personal taste, and it’s here where One UI 7’s excellent photo editing suite was put to good use.

I applied one of Samsung’s new filters to most photos — the Chill, Amber, and Sunbeam usually gave the best effect — and subsequently tweaked the photos further, before it looked the way I wanted it. Cleverly, you can save the edits made to one photo as a new filter of your own, and then apply it to other photos. It works so well on photos taken on the same day and in the same conditions. Samsung’s AI-powered eraser tool remains excellent too, neatly removing unwanted elements like power lines and telegraph poles. 

Looking back at the photos I’m pleased with the results, but I am conscious almost all of them needed editing. This suggests Samsung’s own tuning isn’t quite right, and means enthusiasts hoping to use the camera and never touch the images before sharing them may be disappointed. However, Samsung’s powerful and versatile editing suite makes it simple and enjoyable to change the way your photos look, so it’s less of a downside than it first sounds. 

Was I happy I chose the Galaxy S25 Ultra? 

The Galaxy S25 Ultra screen, performance, and battery life — which was more than enough for two days use — made it a reliable partner for my time away, but I was frustrated by the shape of the phone. If it was my only phone, I’d quickly choose a case for it, in a effort to make it more pleasant to hold. The unfortunate thing is, it’s robust and strong enough not to really need a case. 

I like the photos I took with it, and feel it captured my break really well, so I’ll be happy to look back on them in the future. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is an excellent smartphone and despite being one of the most expensive models you can buy, it’s a safe purchase for the future. However, I didn’t fall in love with it, and do think I’d have been just as happy (or perhaps, even happier) with the OnePlus 13.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra is a cold, yet extremely capable high performance smartphone. I doubt I’ll ever feel much for it, no matter how long I use it, but its all-round ability and superb screen make it hard to beat. It’s still a phone you’ll buy with your head, not your heart, just as I thought when I first reviewed it.