Now that the Galaxy S25 Ultra is official, we can show you this quick camera comparison we did against its predecessor.
Specific improvements like the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip and all its AI capability are nice, but when you get down to it – people care most about the camera improvements.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra brings a new 50MP sensor and brighter f/1.9 lens for its ultrawide camera – a big improvement over the S24 Ultra’s 12MP f/2.2 unit. Rest of the setup seems to be the same – 200MP 1x, 50MP 5x, 12MP selfie. Let’s dig in.
We also expect some differences in processing due to the new chipset. But looking at the main camera samples, we can hardly see any difference in color rendition and tone. In one image, the older phone did a better job with sharpening, but that’s it.
Main camera: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra • Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
Midrange zoom cameras also look very similar, although there is an obvious difference in noise – the new model shows less of it.
3x: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra • Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
Looking at the telephoto zoom cameras we see some more fine detail from the Galaxy S24 Ultra images. This comes at the cost of slightly more noise in textured surfaces. However, there is more noise in the background of the Galaxy S25 Ultra images.
5x: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra • Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
The Galaxy S25 Ultra’s results are clearly 10x better but we’ll give the Galaxy S24 Ultra 30x at this early stage.
10x: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra • Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
30x: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra • Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
The bigger one here – the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s 50MP ultrawide vs the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s 12MP one (note that both output 12MP final images). We don’t know the sensor size difference at this point (hopefully we’ll know by the time of review) but we’d expect the new imager to at least match the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s 1/2.55-inch unit.
We suspect the new camera has a larger sensor because its images have smaller depth of field – there’s less focus of the background and foreground on the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s shot versus the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which is almost completely in focus.
The newer camera has less noise but these samples have a more processed look and actually retain a bit more detail than the older unit. We’ll be sure to check them out more closely when we get the full review.
Ultrawide: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra • Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
Ultrawide macro: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra • Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
Despite similar-looking selfie hardware, the Galaxy S25 Ultra delivers more detailed images with less noise.
Selfie: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra • Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
And here’s a quick video comparison – 4K from the main camera.
Keep in mind that these are the preliminary results of a hastily conducted camera session during the event. It’s also questionable whether the Galaxy S25 Ultra units at the event will be of the same quality that you’ll find in stores when the phone hits shelves.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
| 256GB 12GB RAM | $1,299.99 |
£1,249.00 |
| 512GB 12GB RAM | $1,419.99 |
€1,449.00 |
| Show all prices | ||
But with that disclaimer out of the way, the Galaxy S24 Ultra looks to stack up against its replacement. And even though we expected the new 50MP ultrawide to wipe the floor with its predecessor. It did not happen. Oh well, once we get a review unit the Galaxy S25 Ultra we’ll do a more in-depth test in our review.
