You may not be thinking about the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra right now, but rest assured that Samsung is thinking about it; the Galaxy S24's announcement in January is still fresh in our minds, but development of Samsung's next top-of-the-line flagship has already begun.

We know this because the first tentative rumors of the Galaxy S25 Ultra are beginning to emerge here and there. We don't have nearly enough information at this point to get a full picture of next year's big phone release or a comparison to the best Samsung phones. But the few tidbits we do have, combined with Samsung's track record of smartphone updates, should be enough to whet our appetite for more Galaxy S25 Ultra news.

After Samsung's full commitment to Galaxy AI features in this year's smartphones, we expect that to continue with the Galaxy S25 lineup, including the Ultra. As for Samsung's high-end phones, we have already heard that some camera improvements could be at the top of Samsung's to-do list as Samsung tries to show Apple what it takes to make the best camera phones.

Here is what we have heard so far about the Galaxy S25 Ultra and our best guesses about what Samsung is planning. We also have a wish list of Galaxy S25 Ultra features we'd like to see if you're looking for additional background on next year's flagship.

It's too early in the Galaxy S25 Ultra rumor cycle to say definitively when the new phone will arrive; unless it will be released in early 2025, your guess is as good as ours.

However, over the past few years, Samsung has been gradually moving up the release date of the Galaxy S series. This year's Galaxy S24 release was the earliest ever, with the Galaxy Unpacked event taking place on January 17 and the S24 model shipping two weeks later on January 31.

If Samsung were to release the Galaxy S25 Ultra any earlier, the launch event would clash with CES 2025. Therefore, a Galaxy Unpacked event focusing on Samsung's new model would be held as early as mid-January.

Samsung raised the price of the Galaxy S24 Ultra this year, charging $1,299 after the Galaxy S23 Ultra was $1,199. So while there is unlikely to be a price increase for the Galaxy S25 Ultra, prices for premium phones are on the rise, and by the end of 2024 we will be hearing more about pricing plans.

Having just changed the frame of the Galaxy S24 Ultra to titanium, we cannot imagine Samsung making any changes to the S25 version. Similarly, Samsung has used the same basic design in its recent Ultra, with the cameras stacked vertically in a row on the back and the lens protruding slightly from the back. We don't think it will change either, but the leaked CAD renders that are sure to start arriving in the coming months will tell the story.

Galaxy S25 rumors claim that Samsung's entry-level model will have a larger display size, 6.36 inches versus the Galaxy S24's 6.2 inches. Similar rumors claim that the Galaxy S25 Ultra's screen will be closer to 6.9 inches, slightly larger than the S24 Ultra's 6.8-inch display, but we are not sure how much to believe that claim.

Recently, handset manufacturers have been trying to outdo each other by increasing the maximum brightness of their handset displays. In fact, Samsung has joined the game, setting the peak brightness of the Galaxy S23 Ultra at 1,750 nits and then raising the peak brightness of the Galaxy S24 Ultra to 2,600 nits. It would not be surprising to see the Galaxy S25 Ultra increase its brightness even further.

The camera is a key feature of the Ultra model, with a 200MP main sensor and 100MP space zoom capability. We would expect some sort of upgrade to that setup next year, and early Galaxy S25 Ultra camera rumors suggest we may be on to something.

Specifically, one leaker claims that the Galaxy S25 Ultra's wide-angle lens will receive an unspecified upgrade, while the ultra-wide-angle lens will jump up from the S24 Ultra's 12MP sensor to a 50MP sensor in the new model.

Additionally, the S25 Ultra's telephoto lens is expected to gain "variable functionality." We don't know exactly what this means, but it may have something to do with the ability to change focal lengths while connected to a single sensor. The end result would be smooth zooming, especially when shooting video.

If you're wondering how much to trust this rumor that surfaced before the Galaxy S24 lineup was released, know that this leaker correctly predicted the Galaxy S24 Ultra's upgraded 50MP telephoto lens before that feature was introduced Let's keep it that way.

Given the Galaxy S24 Ultra's use of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is expected to run on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chipset. (In fact, the standard Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Plus models released outside North America use the Exynos 2400 system-on-chip, making this year's Ultra the only S24 model to rely exclusively on Qualcomm's silicon.) Qualcomm already confirmed that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will be available in October, so this schedule coincides with the early 2025 release of Samsung's phones.

Early Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 benchmarks have already been leaked, painting a rosy picture of chipset performance, although such unverified numbers should not be fully trusted. According to the leaked Geekbench results, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is the same as the top score given by an iPhone with the A18 Bionic. (Yes, these A18 numbers were also leaked. This is because this chip will not appear until the fall when the iPhone 16 is released at the earliest.)

Some say that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will have a 4.3GHz prime core, whereas the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 had 3.4GHz. This is a pretty big jump in power, and Samsung and Qualcomm will need to figure out how to put such a chipset in a mobile device without overheating it.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra's System One chip has one potential application. Instead, a rumor posted on X by someone named @OreXda claims that Galaxy S phones will use only Exynos silicon in 2025. But before taking the rumor as gospel, @OreXda quickly dismissed the report as "just a rumor I heard. Not my source," he apparently denied it.

As for battery life, we don't know how Samsung will be able to fit a larger power pack than the 5,000 mAh cell in the Galaxy S24 Ultra. We are not worried about the Galaxy S25 Ultra's battery life, as this device ranked on our Best Phone Battery Life list with a battery test result of 16 hours and 45 minutes. We hope Samsung raises the Ultra's wired charging speed to something faster than the current 45W.

By the time the Galaxy S25 Ultra comes out, Android 15 will have already been released. We imagine the Galaxy S25 phones will get the same seven years of software support that the Galaxy S24 receives.

Our other expectation: the Galaxy S25 Ultra will add Galaxy AI features similar to those debuted in the S24 lineup. No word yet on what these features will be, or whether some will be exclusive to the higher-end Ultra models. The same Galaxy AI features were supported by all three Galaxy S24 models, so the entry-level S24 model can perform the same tasks as the premium Ultra model.

While it may be too early for you and I to think about the Galaxy S25 Ultra, there is no doubt that Samsung is already looking a lot into what it will include in its next device. And we should know more about those efforts this year as the S25 Ultra's 2025 release date approaches.