Yeah, sure, there’s a lot that didn’t change on the Galaxy S25 Ultra this year. But one feature that it has, that Samsung never really talks much about, is Gorilla Armor. It first debuted last year on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, and now we have Gorilla Armor 2 on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. But what exactly is Gorilla Armor 2?
This is Corning’s new protective glass that you’ll find on the Galaxy S25 Ultra only, no other phone has this. It’s an anti-reflective layer of glass, so it eliminates the need to buy a $60 matte or anti-reflective screen protectors. It is also stronger than regular Gorilla Glass – hence the “Armor” in its name. So strong that, Samsung saw a 60% decrease in screen repairs with Galaxy S24 Ultra when compared to Galaxy S23 Ultra. That’s a huge deal.
Just how strong is Gorilla Armor 2? Well, in Corning’s lab tests, it was able to survive a 2.2-meter (about 7 feet) drop onto concrete. That’s about the same protection as some rugged cases that are out there. And this is without a case. That’s pretty impressive.
Every phone maker needs to beg Corning for this
When I’m using just the Galaxy S25 Ultra, and not side-by-side with another phone, I often times forget that it is so anti-reflective. Until I put it next to my iPhone, or OnePlus 13, or even the Galaxy S25 Plus. Then it becomes very obvious. But how does this affect your user experience? Well, it makes it easier to see in bright environments, think direct sunlight. It also just looks so good.
Below, you can see the entire Galaxy S25 series side-by-side-by-side, and you can notice the difference. Not only is the Galaxy S25 Ultra blacker than the other two models, you also can’t see my camera, while you can see my arm holding the camera in the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus.
This is a pretty useful selling point for the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but like with the Galaxy S24 Ultra, Samsung doesn’t talk about it much. In our briefing ahead of Unpacked, Samsung spent maybe two minutes on this, while spending about 20 minutes on Galaxy AI. During Unpacked, it was also quite short. I have no idea why Samsung doesn’t spend more time on this feature, as it is a bigger feature than any Galaxy AI feature that debuted on the Galaxy S25 series.
Why don’t other OEMs use Gorilla Armor?
While we don’t have a concrete answer here, it sounds like Samsung might have exclusivity on Gorilla Armor. They did have an exclusivity on Qualcomm’s Ultrasonic Fingerprint Sensor for many years, which is why we only recently saw these come to other devices, as recent as last year. And it seems like that might be the case here for Gorilla Armor.
However, this could also be far more expensive than Gorilla Glass 7i – which is what OnePlus is using – or it could also be very tough to make. Keep in mind that Samsung is going to be ordering around 20 million or more of these panels for the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Seeing as they sold 14.8 million Galaxy S24 Ultra’s last year.
Whatever the case may be, we really hope to see this come to more phones in the near future. It’s the one feature that keeps me coming back to the Galaxy S24 Ultra, and now likely the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
