Samsung Electronics Co. plans to launch an ultrathin version of its Galaxy S25 phone in the first half of this year, beating Apple Inc. to a promising new category.

At first glance, the Galaxy S25 Ultra looks similar to the phone it replaces, but it's slimmer and lighter than the incumbent device. In terms of dimensions, it's very closely matched with Apple's iPhone 16 Pro Max: there are fractions of a millimetre difference between the two, but Samsung is almost 10g lighter.

Samsung launched the S25 series which comes in three variants — the S25, S25+ and the S25 Ultra. The S25 starts at $799, the S25+ starts at $999 and the S25 Ultra starts at $1,299. Samsung touted improved artificial intelligence features as it looks to stay competitive against Apple and increasingly-competitive Chinese players.