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The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra could get a surprisingly big redesign

A person holding the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Galaxy S24 Ultra Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
galaxy unpacked 2025
This story is part of our Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2025 coverage
Updated less than 4 hours ago

A day after Samsung tipped its hand on the possible camera array for the Galaxy S25, we’ve already gotten a new leak. This one comes from reliable tipster Ice Universe, giving us new details about the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s supposed design changes.

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In short, the S25 Ultra could undergo a much bigger design overhaul than we originally anticipated. For starters, it’s reported that the squared-off edges on the boxier S24 Ultra are gone, replaced by rounded corners reminiscent of the gone but not forgotten Galaxy Note 7. The S25 Ultra will be rounder, not just on the sides but, as Ice Universe believes, with rounded corners on the back panel as well.

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Galaxy S25 Ultra is as round as Galaxy Note7, and I like this change. pic.twitter.com/KLrd2Y3BFg

— ICE UNIVERSE (@UniverseIce) June 28, 2024

On top of that, they speculate the S25 Ultra will have a body thickness of 8.4mm, making it the thinnest Ultra model in years. For reference, the S21 Ultra to the S23 Ultra are 8.9mm thick, while the Galaxy S24 Ultra is 8.6mm thick.

Ice Universe also notes that Samsung doesn’t want to compromise the cameras despite slimming the device, so we’re likely to still get protruding rear camera sensors. Finally, the S25 Ultra should still retain an S Pen, which is one of the main selling points of the Ultra lineup, so Samsung is unlikely to lose that feature. The cameras, if the hint from Samsung is to be believed, may consist of a 50-megapixel ISOCELL GNJ sensor, a possible 200MP HP9 telephoto, and a 50MP JN5 sensor that may be the selfie camera or ultrawide, though it could also serve as a main and telephoto camera.

Of course, SPen is still there, which is one of the core differences of Samsung and will not be cancelled.
When Fold6 is released, you will understand why S Pen is indispensable.

— ICE UNIVERSE (@UniverseIce) June 27, 2024

Another recent and very surprising rumor about the Galaxy S25 is that Samsung may be looking to ditch the Qualcomm chipset in favor of MediaTek. That would be fairly unprecedented, but with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 expected to be the most expensive processor yet, it’s possible Samsung is doing it to avoid a price hike.

For the time being, that’s all we know about the Galaxy S25 Ultra. In the meantime, we’re anticipating the official announcement of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 during Samsung Galaxy Unpacked on July 10 in Paris. Both foldables are expected to retain the boxier design that characterizes the S24 series, but if Samsung makes design changes to the S25, we’re likely to see that come to the future Fold 7 and Flip 7.

Ajay Kumar
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Ajay has worked in tech journalism for more than a decade as a reporter, analyst, and editor.
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