Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra in 2026: still the Android flagship to beat in the UK?

UPDATED · News · 14 Jun 2026 · Daniel Reid

It is mid-2026, and I am still being asked the same question in pubs and group chats: is the Galaxy S25 Ultra worth buying? Samsung first listed the phone after unveiling it at Galaxy Unpacked on 22 January 2025, with UK shipping starting on 7 February 2025. That makes this a phone roughly sixteen months into its life — old enough that the launch hype has worn off, young enough that it is still Samsung’s reigning Ultra. So let me answer it properly, from where I sit now rather than where the launch reviews sat then.

The launch maths, and why they still matter in 2026 (Galaxy S25 Ultra)

When it landed, the S25 Ultra was never cheap. SIM-free pricing from Samsung UK ran to £1,249 for 256GB, £1,349 for 512GB and £1,549 for the 1TB model. You could also pick it up through Argos, Tesco Mobile and the usual networks from launch day. I am flagging those launch figures deliberately, because the one thing I will not do here is invent a June 2026 price for you. Samsung has not published an official mid-2026 SIM-free cut that I would stake my name on, and I would rather you go in knowing the launch numbers and haggle from there than quote you a figure I cannot source. If anything, that is the single most important piece of buying advice I can give: treat the launch RRP as a ceiling, not a target, and walk away from any deal that sits anywhere near it.

The hardware that has aged well

Strip away the marketing and the S25 Ultra is still a genuinely serious bit of kit. GSMArena’s spec sheet lays out the bones: a titanium frame, a 200MP main camera, 12GB of RAM (with up to 16GB in some markets), and Snapdragon’s 8 Elite chip built on a 3nm process. None of that has been embarrassed by the passage of a year. The titanium still feels like the most premium thing Samsung makes, the 200MP sensor still pulls in detail that humbles cheaper flagships, and the 8 Elite is not a chip you will find yourself apologising for in 2026.

Then there is the bit I keep coming back to: software longevity. Samsung committed to seven years of OS updates on this device, shipping on Android 15 with One UI 7 — a point both the Galaxy S25 overview and GSMArena confirm. Seven years is the whole argument for buying a phone like this late in its cycle. If you pick one up now, you are not buying a handset with one or two years of support left; you are buying into a window that still stretches most of the way into the next decade. For a £1,000-plus purchase, that maths actually starts to make sense.

The bit that would stop me

I am not going to pretend this is a flawless machine. The storage story is where I get uneasy. You get 256GB, 512GB or 1TB on fast UFS 4.0 memory, and — per the GSMArena listing — there is no microSD slot. On a phone shooting 200MP stills, that is a decision you make at the till and live with for years. If you are the sort who fills a gallery, the 256GB base model is a trap, and the jump to 512GB cost you another £100 at launch. Buy the storage you need on day one, because you cannot top it up later.

The other thing that gives me pause is precisely what I cannot tell you: the current 2026 price, and whether Samsung is doing anything clever with refurbished or certified stock. I could find no source I trust confirming a mid-2026 SIM-free price or a UK certified re-newed deal, so I am leaving both blank rather than guessing. That uncertainty is not a reason to avoid the phone — it is a reason to shop around hard before you commit.

Where it sits against the field

Sixteen months on, the S25 Ultra’s rivals have not stood still, and I would be lying if I said it was untouchable. But “the Android flagship to beat” was always partly about the package, not just the headline spec — the pen, the cameras, the titanium and that seven-year support promise stacked together. On that combined measure, I still think it holds its ground in the UK. What it no longer is, in my view, is an automatic full-price buy. The phone earns its keep at a discount; it merely impresses at RRP.

So would I buy one this June?

Here is my honest position. If you can find the 512GB model well below its launch price — and given its age, you should be able to — I would buy it without much hand-wringing, because you are getting flagship hardware with the better part of a seven-year support runway still ahead of you. If the only deal on the table is the 256GB version near its original £1,249, I would pass and either hold out for a real discount or look at what Samsung does next. And if you are someone who hoards photos and video, do not even glance at the base storage. The S25 Ultra is still a phone I would happily recommend in 2026 — but only to the buyer who shops on price and storage with their eyes open, not the one who walks in and pays whatever the sticker says.