All this to say the Galaxy S25 ($800), Galaxy S25+ ($1,000), and Galaxy S25 Ultra ($1,300) are powerful, reliable, and well-equipped smartphones. They're excellent upgrades if you're coming from a three or four-year-old device. They're just not otherwise interesting or exciting.

With the new Galaxy S25 Ultra in my hand, I stand in the lobby of the LinkedIn building in San Francisco, which happens to be a POPOS: a privately owned public open space. It's a gorgeous hall, with long running panels of blonde wood on the ceiling and back wall.

Samsung has crafted a pre-order strategy that makes acquiring the Galaxy S25 Ultra almost too good to be true: no joke, you can get it almost for free. When you compare it to competitors like the iPhone 16 Pro (the 512GB version is sold for $1,299), the value proposition becomes very attractive.