As Samsung prepares to ship its shiny new Galaxy S25s to customers, there is already an Android 15 update available to download and install. More so than with any Samsung release before, firmware updates look set to be a major deal with this new release. There’s also a wry twist in exactly what has changed, as the S25 falls back.

One big highlight of the Galaxy S25 is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip. It’s an upgrade over the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy present in the Galaxy S23 and a powerful processor that promises snappy performance. It can handle almost anything you throw at it without breaking a sweat.

Many Galaxy S23 Ultra users are hesitant to upgrade to the Galaxy S25 Ultra, and you can safely blame the phone for being too iterative.

Samsung’s Galaxy S-series is in its software era. Maybe the whole smartphone industry is, too, save for a few phones with hinges (Samsung’s included). But overall, we have exited the hardware-driven innovation cycle and are firmly in the midst of a software-based one.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra is Samsung's latest and greatest, but how does it fare against the older Galaxy S23 Ultra?

The new Galaxy S25 Ultra is undoubtedly a wonderful phone with some truly ultra specs. But in 2025, a lot of phones have ultra features and cost a lot less than $1,300.

Samsung hasn’t pulled out the stops to entice photographers to upgrade – but perhaps that’s no bad thing. Amy Davies finds out more The post Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review – a class-leading Android appeared first on Amateur Photographer.