Samsung trims price of new Galaxy S25 Ultra, freezes price of other models

The Korean titan has cut the price of its flagship phone and frozen prices on other models to make the devices more attractive in a softer global market.

Samsung has cut the price of its flagship S25 Ultra mobile phone and frozen the price of its other models to make the devices more accessible and attract buyers in a soft global smartphone market.

The Korean electronics titan joins rival Apple in pausing price hikes or making their products cheaper, with economists saying the Reserve Bank of Australia is in no rush to cut interest rates as it seeks to rein in inflation.

Samsung unveiled its latest S25 smartphones at its Galaxy Unpacked event in San Jose, California early on Thursday morning (Australian time).

Its S25 Ultra phone will cost $50 less than last year’s model, starting at $2149, compared with $2199 for the S24 launched last January.

It will keep pricing the same for its standard and plus models, which start at $1399 and $1599 respectively.

Samsung Australia head of product, smartphones Nathan Rigger said the new phones were more durable, featuring Corning Gorilla Armor 2, and would have seven years of “guaranteed” operating system and security updates.

“The S25 is the most premium device in the S25 series. It has the best camera, best display, comes with premium materials.

Samsung's new Ultra S25 phone is 15g lighter and cost $50 less than the previous model.

“This year we have reduced the RRP (recommended retail price) by $50, making it just that little more appetising for Australians, trying to make it a little more accessible,” Mr Rigger said.

The global smartphone market grew 4 per cent in 2024, following its weakest sales year in decade, according to Counterpoint Research.

Samsung and rival Apple experienced “largely flat” sales last year, while China’s Xiaomi was 2024’s fastest growing brand, ranked No. 3 globally with 14 per cent share.

Samsung continued to lead the global market last year with a 19 per cent share, ahead of Apple’s 18 per cent. Overall, Samsung’s market share grew 1 per cent, while Apple’s fell 2 per cent, according to Counterpoint Research.

Counterpoint research director Tarun Pathak, however, said green shoots were emerging, attributing Samsung’s lead to “strong demand” for its S24 series — the first phone positioned as an artificial intelligence device — in the US and Western Europe.

“2024 was a year of recovery and normalisation after a difficult 2023,” Mr Pathak said.

“Smartphones continue to be an essential product, pivotal to people’s daily lives, and as macroeconomic pressures softened, the market started showing signs of recovery from Q4 2023 and has now grown for five consecutive quarters. Almost all markets showed growth, led by Europe, China and Latin America.”

And Mr Rigger is expecting 2025 to be a big year for sales in Australia.

“We have big expectations for the market in 2025. We launched Galaxy AI about a year ago with the S24 series and have since then rolled it out to about two million Australians. And we have seen the usage of these AI features continue to grow in Australia.

“Now up to 70 per cent of people who have access to Galaxy AI are using it on a monthly basis, and that trend continues to increase month after month. We are also seeing through our research that AI as a reason to buy is starting to increase in terms of the hierarchy of importance for Australian consumers.”

Jim Chalmers said last week Labor could deliver low inflation and near-record low unemployment at the same time, even as economists say a surprise bump in jobs data means the RBA is no rush to cut interest rates when it meets next month.

But, RBC Capital Markets chief economist Su-Lin Ong said there was “no smoking gun” from the jobs figures which would prompt the RBA to cut interest rates next month.

KPMG chief economist Brendan Rynne said there were signs of weakness in the job market, with December’s jobs gains solely driven by an 80,000 increase in the number of part-time employees, compared with a full-time employment loss of 23,700 people.

The author travelled to San Jose as a guest of Samsung

Originally published as Samsung trims price of new Galaxy S25 Ultra, freezes price of other models