I’m about to tell you something you already know: The Galaxy S25 Ultra isn’t a particularly exciting phone. Samsung’s latest phablet trades away its Note-esque sharp corners and rounded frame for something more in line with the smaller two devices. A few other changes — a new ultra-wide sensor, a lighter chassis — more for an attractive enough device with the right discounts, but even Samsung diehards have to admit we were hoping for something a little more.
No Thanks, Keep Reading
With so little in the way of truly new features to test out, I spent my first weekend with the Galaxy S25 Ultra pondering just what exactly is up with Samsung’s color strategy. No, seriously. While the S25 lineup might be boring — save for that Edge model launching later this year — it didn’t have to be. In such a quiet year, Samsung could have rethought its lineup of smartphone colors for 2025, utilizing a fresh lineup of shades to convince on-the-fence buyers to make a move. Instead, we’re stuck with another year of grays, blues, and not much else.
Samsung’s current colors aren’t just bad — they’re boring
Gray, gray, gray, and black
Before we get into what Samsung should have done, let’s break down what the company actually announced for 2025. The Galaxy S25 and S25+ come in four matching colors, while the Galaxy S25 Ultra gets four titanium-infused shades. No, these numbers don’t count Samsung’s online-exclusive offerings, though I promise we will get to those.
The smaller S25 models come in Navy, Mint, Icy Blue, and Silver Shadow. Navy and Mint both feel like appropriate names for their respective colorways; Icy Blue and Silver Shadow, meanwhile, are a blue-tinted silver and dark-tinted silver, respectively. They are distinguishable from each other, to be sure, but neither feels particularly unique. How each material appears in person will usually depend on the surrounding lighting, practically guaranteeing Icy Blue simply looks like a lighter shade of gray than its Silver Shadow counterpart.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra is worse. Once again, we get four colors: Titanium Black, Gray, Silverblue, and Whitesilver. Once again, we are talking about three various shades of gray… and black. Quick — what color is my Galaxy S25 Ultra review unit?
If you guessed Silverblue, give yourself a pat on the back. If you guessed Gray or Whitesilver… I mean, you’re technically wrong, but are you really?
At the end of the day, nearly every color here — with the possible exception of Mint — are neutral tones. There is no splash of color, no random yellow or lime green or pink unit that, at the very least, allows Samsung’s lineup to stand out in a carrier store. These phones are expensive, premium, and made for serious people tackling serious tasks. Take your whimsy back to the 2000s where it belongs.
Samsung’s online exclusives are better, but they come with an obvious catch
They’re, you know, available exclusively online
Okay, I’m being a little unfair to Samsung. The company does offer its Galaxy S25 series in six additional colors — three for the Galaxy S25 and S25+, three for the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The former gets Blueblack, Coralred, and Pinkgold, while the latter gets Titanium Jetblack, Jadegreen, and Pinkgold.
These are, undoubtedly, the best color options available for these three phones. Putting Blueblack and Jetblack aside for the time being — they’re simply alternate takes on already-existing, more widely available shades — Coralred, Pinkgold, and Jadegreen all look great, both on Samsung’s website and in person. And yet, that’s the rub. All of these colors are exclusive to Samsung.com. Try to buy a Galaxy S25 Ultra from your local Verizon store, and you’ll be met with the company’s usual lineup of gray, gray, and gray.
None of this is new for Samsung. The company’s hosted web-exclusive colors for its flagship Android phones for years, usually keeping the best options for itself. But this year, it feels particularly insulting. This is a year where Samsung is urging its user base to dump two-to-three year old hardware — still well behind their eventual EOS dates — solely on the basis of an increasingly disappointing lineup of AI tools and tricks. It’s going to be an uphill battle, and a new paint job or two really could’ve helped carry these old designs into another year.
If we can’t get yearly changes, can we at least get yearly color upgrades
Take some inspiration from Ford, GM, and Apple
Typically, people look to upgrade products they already own because of a new promised experience. Samsung — alongside companies like Apple and Google — have pivoted to AI toolsets to try and convince shoppers to purchase a new smartphone, even if current devices don’t look all too different from anything released this decade. I’m just not sure how well it’s going to work on modern consumers.
Five years ago saw the launch of the iPhone 12 Pro and Galaxy S20 Ultra. Try as you might, you can’t convince me it’s the same sort of jump in design and aesthetic we saw throughout the 2010s. Just compare 2015’s iPhone 6s and Galaxy S6 to those aforementioned models to see what I mean. With the exception of foldables, we’ve effectively arrived at “peak smartphone” design: a big, tall screen paired with a chassis of glass and metal. There’s only so much you can do within those parameters.
This means we should look at smartphones a lot less like the revolutionary, cutting-edge technology they once were, and a lot more like they’re appliances or automobiles — things society relies on without too much excitement surrounding them. In fact, the automobile comparison is, I think, particularly strong, as that industry also loves to recycle design trends year after year after year. The difference, of course, is that GM, Ford, and Toyota aren’t trying to pretend that the average consumer wants an all-new vehicle after just twelve months. That’s why mid-cycle refreshes exist, allowing for smaller, more minute changes within a single generation.
The iPhone 12 Mini, which doesn’t look all too different from its 2024 counterparts.
And one of the most common design swaps you’ll see within a three-to-four year generational span? You guessed it: colors. The vast majority of 2025 vehicles will look pretty similar to their 2024 counterparts, but with the addition — or, in some cases, subtraction — of particular colorways. Frankly, I think smartphones should follow the lead here, and it’s something Apple has already caught on to.
The biggest visual difference between the iPhone 16 and every iPhone released since 2020’s iPhone 12 isn’t the Dynamic Island, the removal and return of a vertical camera layout, or the two additional buttons added this generation. It’s the color choices. The iPhone 13 came in big, bold, primary colors — blues and reds, but not much else. The iPhone 14 swapped things up with a banana-bright yellow and a faded purple. The iPhone 15’s pastels were washed out and desaturated, while the iPhone 16’s teal and ultramarine helped bring some striking colors back to Apple’s lineup.
Suddenly, a lineup that would look virtually indistinguishable from practically every other iPhone manages to stick out among the competition. Apple’s corner in every US carrier store looks bright, vibrant, and new in a way Samsung has failed to match with each passing year.
Samsung needs to rethink its color strategy
Let’s shake things up next year
This is a lesson Samsung should run with. We live in a world where expecting a revolutionary redesign from our smartphone every year simply no longer meshes with reality. Big, tall glass-and-metal bricks are here to stay, no matter what AI pins or smart glasses have to say about it. That doesn’t mean smartphones have to be boring, but it does mean that we — and, more specifically, manufacturers and designers — might have to be a little more creative in their attempts to convince users to upgrade.
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Samsung Galaxy S25
Samsung’s Galaxy S25 keeps things small without sacrificing power. With a Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, 12GB of RAM, and all sorts of tools courtesy of Galaxy AI, this is everything you expect from a modern flagship squeezed into a relatively svelte chassis.
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Samsung Galaxy S25+
Samsung’s Galaxy S25+ finds just the right middle ground between its two siblings. With a 6.7-inch display, up to 512GB of storage, and 12GB of RAM, this smartphone includes practically everything you could ask for in the modern AI age, without driving up the price.
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Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra leaves the Note-like design behind for the very first time. With flat edges, curved corners, and a massive 6.9-inch display, this is a modern flagship through and through — and yes, that S Pen is still here too.
