The Galaxy S25 Ultra costs Samsung a bit more to put together than the S24 Ultra did

The Galaxy S25 Ultra is Samsung’s top-tier phone right now, though not the priciest since that title still goes to the Galaxy Z Fold models. While it sticks with the same $1,299 starting price as last year, a new report shows it’s actually more expensive for Samsung to build than the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

Counterpoint Research breaks down the cost to build the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The BoM for the 12GB + 512GB variant is apparently 3.4% higher than the previous Ultra model (via SammyGuru). While last year’s model only saw a slight uptick over the S23 Ultra, this jump is more noticeable. The main reason is a 21% hike in processor costs, thanks to the move from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 to the pricier Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy SoC, a bump Qualcomm had already flagged.

Memory prices also saw a slight increase, breaking the downward trend seen from the S23 Ultra to the S24 Ultra. The dynamic market shift seems to be another factor pushing up the S25 Ultra’s overall production cost.

Camera and other components got cheaper

On the other hand, Counterpoint points out that camera costs dropped 8% compared to last year. That’s likely because Samsung stuck with the same main, 3x zoom, and selfie cameras again. Costs also went down elsewhere: wireless components dropped over 10%, the frame got about 8% cheaper, and the display saw a small dip too.

Likewise, the titanium frame, which debuted with the S24 Ultra, is now cheaper to produce thanks to more streamlined manufacturing. For connectivity, Samsung cut costs by over 10% by switching to a single-chip transceiver, ditching the older multi-part radio setup.

Despite the more expensive parts, Samsung has managed to keep the S25 Ultra’s cost increase pretty modest, and 3.4% isn’t too steep given the upgrades. It’s clear the company is picking its battles, adding new features where it counts while trimming costs elsewhere to hold that $1,299 line.