5 Ways Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Beats The OnePlus 13

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra has the highest starting price for any slab phone these days, even more expensive than the iPhone 16 Pro Max which starts at $1,199 now. But we’re here to tell you five ways that the Galaxy S25 Ultra beats the OnePlus 13, the other flagship phone to launch in 2025, so far.

There’s a lot of things that both of these phones share, but Samsung does have quite a few options that OnePlus doesn’t have. So if you’re on the fence about which phone to get, hopefully this will help you out. If you’re looking to see what OnePlus has that Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra doesn’t have, we have an article on that too.

7 years of Software Updates

So far, only Samsung and Google have been promising 7 years of updates, and given how large their software teams are, they might be the only ones capable of doing that for quite some time. And that is a pretty major advantage over OnePlus. The OnePlus 13 is only offering four years of OS updates and six years of software updates. Which isn’t too shabby either, but it’s not 7 years, meaning the Galaxy S25 Ultra will get Android 22, which is insane to think about.

Aside from the One UI 7 update, Samsung has been very quick with updates over the past few years. One UI 7 is an outlier, since it is a much larger update than usual for Samsung. Causing the company to do more testing and beta tests with customers. Though it will start rolling out in the next couple of weeks.

S Pen

The S Pen is still a major selling feature for Galaxy S25 Ultra, despite Samsung removing the Bluetooth functionality this year. While it’s not something that I use much, or really at all, there are loads of people out there that swear by the S Pen. And if you’re one of those, the S Pen is going to be reason enough to get a Galaxy S25 Ultra.

The S Pen is more than just a stylus. It interacts differently with the Galaxy S25 Ultra, compared to a regular USI Stylus, and even has quite a few shortcuts available, like Draw Assist. Where you can start a drawing and then have Galaxy AI finish it, and it does look quite good. The S Pen is also great for taking notes.

Anti-reflective display with Gorilla Armor 2

Last year, Samsung debuted Corning’s new Gorilla Armor which is an anti-reflective display that is also tougher than any other glass Corning has made. Samsung didn’t spend much time on it last year, despite everyone loving the anti-reflectivity of this display. Samsung has said that Gorilla Armor has resulted in 60% less screen repairs on Galaxy S24 Ultra compared to Galaxy S23 Ultra. And now, we have Gorilla Armor 2.

This is still exclusive to the Galaxy S25 Ultra (not the S25 Plus or regular S25, unfortunately). It’s a bit more anti-reflective, and even stronger. Meaning it’s going to be more resistant to shattering and scratching. That’s important, especially when compared with the OnePlus 13. My OnePlus 13, which I received in December, already has a few scratches in the bottom corner. This is partly due to the quad-curved display, but also due to it using Gorilla Glass 7i, which is not as strong as Gorilla Armor 2.

Thanks to Samsung and Google renewing their relationship and working even closer together than ever before, Samsung is able to really outdo its competition when it comes to AI. The Galaxy AI suite is partly powered by Google’s own models, and partly by Samsung’s. So you’re getting the best of both worlds here. Which includes things like Writing Assist, Drawing Assist, Audio Eraser and much more. These all work extremely well, and aren’t front-and-center. They fit quite nicely into the software on Galaxy S25 Ultra.

While OnePlus does have some AI features, they are pretty limited and not as robust as what Samsung has. Most of OnePlus’ AI features have to do with the camera, and they do work well. Like erasing people from images, increasing the clarity of photos and more.

Customized Snapdragon 8 Elite

Both of these phones sport the Snapdragon 8 Elite, so how can Samsung take this as an advantage? Well, this year, the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy is much more than just an overclocked processor. It is overclocked, at nearly 4.5GHz(!), but it has also been fully customized for the Galaxy S25 series. What this means is that it is going to be more efficient, it is more tightly integrated with other internals like the camera too. Making for a very different experience compared to the OnePlus 13.

Most companies will say that their phone and chip are efficient, but this time it might actually be true based on our early tests with the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Which will you choose?

Of course, the decision is always up to you, the person spending their hard-earned money on a new phone. It’s a pretty tough decision actually as both of these phones are quite good. And right now, some of the deals that Samsung is offering is quite impressive. Of course, if you’re someone that has to have the S Pen, then it’s a no-brainer, as only one phone has the S Pen. If you want to save some money, it’s a bit harder, as both phones have massive deals going on right now.