It looks like Samsung still has a few months left before it unveils its next big flagship, the Galaxy S25 But for those thinking of upgrading, comparing the specs of the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the rumored Galaxy S25 Ultra can give you a good idea of whether to start saving up for a new phone now or hold off for another generation to come

The Galaxy S25 Ultra will be available early next year, so now is a great time to compare it to current flagships And while the Galaxy S24 Ultra is at the top of Samsung's best phones ranking, the question is whether the Galaxy S25 Ultra will offer enough new upgrades to make people consider paying to upgrade to a new phone

Below we will gather all the rumors and leaks that have surfaced so far about the Galaxy S25 Ultra and see how it compares to the Galaxy S24 Ultra

It is too early in the rumor cycle to say definitively when the Galaxy S25 Ultra will arrive, but based on what we have seen so far, it will hit store shelves sometime in early 2025, probably in January of February

For reference, this year's Galaxy S24 release was the earliest in the history of flagship models to date, with the Galaxy Unpacked event taking place on January 17 and the S24 model shipping two weeks later on January 31

The Galaxy S24 Ultra was also priced higher than the previous model, jumping to $1,299 from the Galaxy S23 Ultra's $1,199 For the Galaxy S25 Ultra, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the next flagship model will feature The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, which is expected to be included in the upcoming flagship model, could drive up the phone's cost, and this price could go even higher However, no more concrete information is available at this time

The Galaxy S24 Ultra already has a huge 68-inch screen, but the Galaxy S25 Ultra could raise it slightly Prominent leaker Ice Universe reported in August that the upcoming Galaxy S25 Ultra will feature a 686-inch display

The larger screen is notable because Samsung has shaved the bezels on its flagship, suggesting that despite the larger display, the overall size of the phone will be reduced According to the same leak, the S25 Ultra will be 776 mm wide, a slight reduction from the 79 mm seen on the current S24 Ultra We have also heard reports that Samsung will round the corners of the S25 Ultra, ditching the square corners that the company's Ultra phones have had since the Galaxy S22 Ultra

Between the more curved design, slimmer bezels and narrower frame, the S25 Ultra should be a bit easier to hold for longer periods of time than its predecessor

The Galaxy S24 Ultra ranks high on the list of best camera phones with its 200MP main camera, 12MP ultra-wide camera, 10MP telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom, and new 50MP telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom

Early Galaxy S25 Ultra camera rumors suggest that the upcoming flagship's ultra-wide lens may receive a modest upgrade, jumping from a 12MP to a 50MP sensor 200MP main camera, 12MP selfie camera, and 50MP telephoto camera are not expected to change, but may be tweaked under the hood for a smoother user experience

Rumors suggest that the S25 Ultra's telephoto lens will gain a “variable feature” that may fix the focal length between 4x and 5x zoom and again between 6x and 7x zoom to streamline the process when recording video Another rumor suggests that Samsung may ditch the second telephoto altogether, and that the S25 Ultra may have three camera lenses instead of four

Given the Galaxy S24 Ultra's use of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, the Galaxy S25 Ultra will likely feature the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chipset Qualcomm has already confirmed that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will be available in October, which coincides with the early 2025 release of Samsung's flagship series

However, the leaked early Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 benchmarks are not exactly noteworthy According to the leaked Geekbench results, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is identical to the top score given by an A18 Bionic-powered iPhone On the other hand, there are reports that the Galaxy S25 Ultra with Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 and the Galaxy S25 Ultra with Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 produced results of 3,069 and 9,080, respectively

Another credible rumor claims that the Galaxy S25 Ultra will gain faster UFS 41, further boosting the phone's performance; RAM capacity could also jump, increasing from 12 GB on the current Galaxy S24 Ultra to 16 GB This would allow it to handle multitasking and Galaxy AI request processing

Speaking of AI features, the Galaxy S25 Ultra will likely add more of the kind seen in the S24 lineup when it launches, but no word yet on what those will be

As for battery life, the Galaxy S24 Ultra already ranks on our best smartphone battery life list with a 5,000 mAh cell that lasts nearly 17 hours in our battery tests Rumors suggest that the Galaxy S25 Ultra may retain the same 5,000 mAh battery and 45W charging speed

It is still a bit early to say definitively whether one should consider upgrading to the Galaxy S25 Ultra Based on what we know so far, hardware upgrades to the Galaxy S24 Ultra seem minimal, but Samsung may have some fancy new technology or AI-powered features to sweeten the deal

Given that Apple was the clear front-runner in the iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Galaxy S24 Ultra showdown, Samsung has a lot of ground to cover with its next flagship We should know more about what to expect from the S25 Ultra as it gets closer to launch, but until then, it may be worth holding off on an upgrade