00:00I was going to start off this video with a joke about just reusing last year's Galaxy
00:05S24 Ultra and this year's S25 Ultra durability test video, but then I remembered what I did to
00:12last year's S24 Ultra and how little of it was left. Both Apple and Samsung have been on a
00:18titanium kick lately, which I approve of. I love titanium. Both companies just basically add a bit
00:24of the aerospace grade material to the exterior, which is fine. Honestly, it probably doesn't do
00:29a whole lot for the structure. It might be a tad lighter, but titanium is mostly just there for
00:34the marketing buzzwords. Be that as it may, titanium is still cool enough to always get a thumbs up
00:40from me. If you remember from last year, I did promise to try out the Z Flip and I gave it a
00:45solid 30 days. But I did know after day 1 that I am far too lazy of a person to be opening and closing
00:52my phone all day, so after 30 days I switched back to an S24 with a grip case and x-ray scan that I've
00:58been using ever since. With this phone being so similar to last year's, there's only a few ways
01:02to tell if your friend actually got the new Samsung or not. The first method is to take a microscope
01:07to the camera lenses. At the atomic level you can see that these new camera lenses are not officially
01:13attached to the phone at their base. They are slightly elevated flexible dust collecting utopias.
01:19They don't immediately appear to be detachable, but you know we'll be doing some more testing on that
01:24here in a second. The only other way to tell if someone has the 2025 S24 Ultra is inside the S Pen.
01:32See, Samsung upgraded the internals of the S Pen with a downgrade, removing all of the Bluetooth
01:38hardware. Yeah, it does still have the coil of copper on the tip so the digitizer on the screen can
01:43sense its presence, so the pen can still do all its doodling. But now the S Pen no longer has the ability
01:48to do air gestures or act as a remote camera trigger or even change the slides on a PowerPoint presentation
01:56due to that lack of low power Bluetooth. It also no longer has an internal battery at the back end.
02:01Surprisingly, it still has a slot for the battery, but the batteries are not included.
02:06Rumor on the street is that Samsung removed the battery so that they could sell more of their Galaxy
02:10finger rings and Galaxy watches, both of which can remotely operate things on the phone,
02:16but personally I think that's kind of lame. Either way though, when in doubt about which
02:19phone your friend might have, just check inside the S Pen. If it doesn't have a battery, it's the
02:24newer S25 Ultra. Also, this little woofer is indeed one of the stock wallpapers. Let me know down in the
02:30comments what we should name him. One thing Samsung did really well last year is with the invention of
02:35the Gorilla Glass Armor, which surprisingly didn't get physically damaged until a level 7.
02:40However, as we work our way up the most scale of hardness, this time on Gorilla Glass Armor 2,
02:50we can see quite a few scratches at a level 6 with deeper grooves at a level 7. The markings down at
02:57level 2 just rub away so we won't count those. One annoying thing that the phone is doing is telling
03:02me that the S Pen is not inside my phone, when it obviously very clearly is installed. Maybe it just
03:09needs the rest of the pieces. Nope, wasn't that. Anyway, I'm not too sure what's going on here with
03:15the glass at a level 6. It could be that the glass might just have been attached too brittle last time,
03:20so they dialed it back with Gorilla Armor 2. All I know is glass is glass and glass breaks for everyone
03:27eventually. I'm a massive fan of the totally flat screen though. The 12 megapixel front facing selfie
03:32camera is a hole punch into the center of the screen right below the razor thin earpiece slit. The only
03:38way to truly keep your screen scratch free is with a layer of protection, like from the Prism 2.0 from
03:44my channel sponsor dbrand. I can snap the applicator tray in place, pull the lower tab, swipe my finger
03:50down the middle, and in less time than it took Samsung to design this year's S25 Ultra, I have a
03:56perfectly aligned screen protector that prevents 100% of screen scratches on your new $1300 investment,
04:03while also doubling as a layer of impact protection for the glass underneath.
04:07Every order comes with two screen protectors, and at the rate Samsung is innovating, you'll probably
04:12be able to use the same glass onto your S26 Ultra next year. Check it out at the link in the description.
04:19Real glass is where it's at. One thing you might not have noticed during Samsung's presentation is the
04:24really, really, really small print down near the bottom. I'll expand it for you. Turns out that the
04:32titanium is only applied to the device frame and is not applied to the buttons, and you can definitely
04:37hear the difference. The frame has more of a muted, softer sounding scratch while the power and volume
04:43rocker are that tinny aluminum sound that we have all grown to know and love. The top of the S25 Ultra has
04:52more titanium. The left side has the 5G millimeter wave antenna with plastic covering. We'll see if that
04:58compromises any durability here in a second. The bottom of the phone is rather crowded. It's where
05:03our S Pen lives, or lived rather, also the lower stereo loudspeaker, and the 45 watt charging port.
05:10We also have an IP68 watertight SIM card tray with a gray rubber ring around the opening. It's not quite
05:15on par with the IP69 IP rating we saw in the OnePlus 13. I'm getting all kinds of vibes here that Samsung is
05:22slacking. Especially when we turn the phone over and zoom into the Samsung logo. The whole panel is
05:30soft touched etched glass, which feels great, right? But the Samsung logo is just not right. Not even close.
05:38Yes, my camera is in focus, and no, you don't need glasses. The Samsung logo is completely out of whack.
05:44And speaking of whack, remember, I do like Samsung. I use one as my daily driver. But this camera lens
05:50situation has given me some pretty insecure vibes, like an IRL Instagram filter or a lifted truck.
05:57The top 50 megapixel ultra wide camera has a large metal purely aesthetic ring around the glass. The
06:03middle 200 megapixel camera has the same large pronounced metal ring, along with the lower 50
06:09megapixel 5x telephoto. There's another 10 megapixel 3x telephoto off to the side, but these camera bumps,
06:16not actually being attached to the glass, kind of reminds me of that fake engine noise that some EVs
06:21try and do. Because like, they aren't even real. Yeah, the ring is for sure secure and I don't think
06:27they'll ever fall off on their own, but they really are over here just glued into place like a pair of
06:31fake eyelashes. Razor blades historically aren't the strongest of pry bars, but even so, my JerryRig
06:37razor knife is 2-0 for popping off Samsung's fake camera lenses without breaking. The third one started to
06:43peel up the back glass, which would have started the teardown video early, but since we haven't
06:48finished the durability test yet, I'll hold off for now. But I don't know, are these manufacturer
06:53mods worthy of a $1300 smartphone build? I don't want to say I'm getting Teemu vibes, but back in my
06:59day, $1300 used to go a lot farther. Anyway, no hard feelings, pup, but to no one's surprise,
07:06not much has changed in the screen department either this year. Still 6.9 inches, AMOLED, 120 hertz,
07:13but it's all stuff we've seen before and nothing super new. After about 30 seconds,
07:17my lighter barely leaves a mark, but also does not recover. Fire is hot. Who would have thought?
07:23Finally, the bend test. With the titanium body and Gorilla Armor Glass 2, along with Samsung's near
07:30perfect decade long streak of not snapping in half, it's no surprise that the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
07:36has basically no flex whatsoever when bent from the back or the front. There's no cracks in the frame,
07:42no separation of the glass or the antenna lines, just pure survival skills, except for those camera
07:48lenses. But honestly, I think they look better without the rings around them anyway. If you really
07:52want to maintain your resale value of $1300, $1500 after the tariffs kick in, I highly recommend picking
07:59up a clear case from my channel sponsor dbrand. As you can see, it's got no MagSafe magnets and like
08:05pretty much other clear case you've ever owned is obnoxiously pre-yellowed for your convenience.
08:11Oh wait, sorry. This is the GhostCase 2.0. With its precise cutouts for each of the cameras back
08:17when they were attached, the Qi2 built in magnets make clicking into magnetical wireless chargers
08:22incredibly convenient and has some nice clicky buttons. It sounds like my 18 month old might be
08:30getting into my razor knife stash at the moment, so I'll have to cut this video short. Just remember
08:34dbrand's GhostCase 2.0 has a lifetime guarantee that it'll never turn yellow. So go get your Ghost
08:402.0 from the link in the description. It'll definitely help keep your camera lenses right
08:45where they should be. Thanks a ton for watching. I'll see you around.
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