There’s a lot to look forward to with the upcoming Galaxy S25 Ultra, but a new report shows it falls short in certain areas.
Samsung was once known for shipping the Galaxy series with the best and brightest displays. The Samsung Galaxy S24 series came with an M13 OLED panel, one of the best panels available at the time. However, both the iPhone 16 Pro and Google Pixel 9 were later released with Samsung’s M14 OLED panels, which offer higher brightness and better power efficiency. The Samsung Galaxy S25 series is expected to come with the same options, but recent reports indicate that this may not be the case.
We have confirmed with our material supplier that the S25 Ultra uses M13 material rather than M14 material for cost reasons.October 25, 2024
According to ET News (via Android Police), Samsung will continue to use M13-based panels for the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Ultra. The report suggests that Samsung intends to upgrade the display every two generations from now on. This is said to be due to the current performance of OLED and the saturation of the smartphone market. This suggestion seems to be supported by a post about X by Ross Young, CEO of Display Chain Consultants.
In our tests, the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s M13 OLED achieved a peak brightness of 1,363 nits, the iPhone 16 Pro with the new display peaked at 1,553 nits, and the Pixel 9 Pro reached a peak brightness of 1,938 nits. I understand that. However, most average users won’t really notice such a difference in daily use.
In reality, as speculated, this is a cost-cutting measure to keep the Galaxy S25 series affordable. Part of the problem is that the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chip will reportedly increase the price of the phone. However, the chip’s capabilities could help the S25 compete against the iPhone 16 Pro, with leaked benchmark scores showing it beating Apple’s latest iPhone in multi-core scores.
For now, all we can do is wait for the official release of the Galaxy S25 series. At that point, we’ll be able to test it ourselves to see if this is a significant downgrade or if the phone still remains on our best cell phone list.
