Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra VS ZTE Nubia Z70S Ultra

Both the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and the ZTE Nubia Z70S Ultra share a strong foundation in design fundamentals: both are waterproof with an IP68 rating, meaning they can handle submersion in water without issue, and neither adopts a rugged or foldable form factor. For most users, these shared traits mean equivalent real-world durability and the same level of confidence around water exposure.

Where they diverge is in physical dimensions and weight. The Nubia Z70S Ultra is measurably larger across every axis — 164.3 mm tall vs 162.8 mm, 8.6 mm thick vs 8.2 mm — and it carries a higher volume (108.94 cm³ vs 103.59 cm³). It is also 10 g heavier at 228 g compared to the S25 Ultra's 218 g. While 10 g may sound negligible, in a device already pushing the upper boundary of comfortable single-hand use, that difference is noticeable over long sessions — especially combined with the slightly bulkier profile.

The S25 Ultra holds a clear edge in design ergonomics: it is slimmer, lighter, and more compact, translating to better long-term handling comfort. The Nubia Z70S Ultra's extra mass and volume offer no stated structural benefit here, since both share the same IP68 protection and neither has a rugged build. For users who prioritize a more refined, pocketable design, the S25 Ultra wins this category.

Both phones use OLED/AMOLED panels with Always-On Display support and HDR10 compatibility, so the baseline viewing experience is strong on either device. The more meaningful story, however, is in the sharpness gap: the S25 Ultra's 6.9″ screen at 1440 x 3120 px delivers 498 ppi, while the Nubia Z70S Ultra's 6.85″ panel resolves only 1216 x 2688 px — yielding 431 ppi. That 67 ppi difference is perceptible, particularly when reading fine text or viewing detailed imagery up close.

Peak brightness is another area where the S25 Ultra pulls ahead decisively. Its 2600 nits typical brightness substantially outpaces the Nubia's 2000 nits, which translates directly to better legibility in harsh outdoor sunlight. The S25 Ultra also supports HDR10+, an adaptive HDR format that enables dynamic metadata for scene-by-scene tone mapping — the Nubia is limited to static HDR10. For touch responsiveness, however, the Nubia fights back with a 960Hz touch sampling rate versus the S25 Ultra's 240Hz, meaning touch input is registered more frequently — a tangible advantage in fast-paced gaming scenarios.

Glass protection follows a similar pattern: the S25 Ultra uses Gorilla Armor 2, a more premium solution than the Nubia's Gorilla Glass 7i. Taking the display category as a whole, the S25 Ultra holds a clear overall advantage — its superior resolution, brightness ceiling, HDR10+ support, and stronger glass make it the better display for both media consumption and everyday use, with the Nubia's higher refresh rate and touch sampling rate being meaningful only for a narrow gaming-focused audience.

At the silicon level, these two devices are essentially twins: both run the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite on a 3 nm process with the Adreno 830 GPU, identical memory bandwidth, and the same storage ceiling of 1024 GB. That shared foundation means the real performance story comes down to configuration differences rather than architectural ones.

The most striking differentiator is RAM: the Nubia Z70S Ultra ships with 24 GB versus the S25 Ultra's 12 GB, which directly fuels its higher benchmark scores despite slightly lower peak clock speeds. The Nubia's AnTuTu score of ~2,710,000 outpaces the S25 Ultra's ~2,207,809 by a meaningful margin, and its Geekbench 6 single-core result of 3234 edges out the S25 Ultra's 3057. In practice, the doubled RAM means more apps can remain active in the background without being purged, and memory-intensive workloads — video editing, large AI tasks, heavy multitasking — have considerably more headroom. The S25 Ultra counters with marginally higher prime-core clock speeds (4.47 GHz vs 4.32 GHz) and a higher GPU boost clock (1200 MHz vs 1100 MHz), but these advantages do not reverse the benchmark gap.

The Nubia Z70S Ultra holds a clear performance edge in this category. The RAM advantage is both practically significant and benchmark-validated — users who push their devices hard will feel the difference, while the S25 Ultra's slight CPU and GPU clock leads are too narrow to offset it.

The telephoto story separates these two cameras decisively. The S25 Ultra brings a 200 MP primary sensor paired with a dedicated 10x optical zoom lens reaching 111 mm equivalent focal length, while the Nubia Z70S Ultra tops out at 2.7x optical zoom and a 70 mm maximum focal length. For users who regularly shoot subjects at distance — wildlife, sports, events — that gap is substantial and not something software can fully compensate for. The S25 Ultra's quad-camera array also adds a fourth lens to the Nubia's three, giving it more discrete focal length options to work with.

On the wide end, the Nubia actually holds an advantage: its 13 mm minimum focal length beats the S25 Ultra's 24 mm, meaning it can capture a significantly wider field of view — useful for architecture, landscapes, and tight interior spaces. The Nubia's brightest aperture of f/1.7 sits on its ultra-wide lens rather than its primary, which is an unusual configuration worth noting. The S25 Ultra's primary sensor carries a BSI (backside-illuminated) designation, a sensor design that typically improves light capture efficiency — the Nubia lacks this. For video, the Nubia counters with Dolby Vision recording support, which the S25 Ultra does not offer, giving it an edge for users invested in that HDR video ecosystem.

Taken together, the S25 Ultra holds the stronger overall camera advantage, primarily due to its superior telephoto reach and higher-resolution main sensor. The Nubia Z70S Ultra carves out specific niches — wider ultra-wide coverage and Dolby Vision video — but for versatility across the full focal range, Samsung's offering is the more capable system.

Running identical Android 15 versions, these two phones share the vast majority of their software feature sets — privacy controls, dynamic theming, split-screen, PiP, offline voice recognition, and on-device machine learning are all present on both. For most users, day-to-day software experience will feel largely equivalent.

The differences, while not numerous, are practical. The S25 Ultra supports cross-site tracking blocking, adding a layer of browser-level privacy that the Nubia Z70S Ultra lacks. It also includes Wi-Fi password sharing — a small but genuinely convenient feature for households and frequent guests — and focus modes, which allow users to suppress distracting apps and notifications during work or downtime. The most significant software exclusive, however, is PC mode: the S25 Ultra can be used as a desktop computing environment when connected to an external display, a feature the Nubia does not support. For power users who want to consolidate devices or work on the go without a laptop, this is a meaningful capability gap.

The S25 Ultra takes this category. The Nubia matches it on the fundamentals, but Samsung's additions — especially PC mode and focus modes — represent tangible quality-of-life advantages rather than checkbox features, giving the S25 Ultra a more complete software package overall.

Raw capacity tells a clear story here: the Nubia Z70S Ultra packs a 6600 mAh battery against the S25 Ultra's 5000 mAh, a 32% larger reserve that translates directly into extended usage between charges. For heavy users — those streaming, gaming, or navigating through long days — that extra headroom is genuinely significant. The Nubia also charges faster at 80W versus the S25 Ultra's 45W, meaning it not only lasts longer but recovers more quickly when it does run low. Adding further practical value, the Nubia includes a charger in the box, while the S25 Ultra does not.

The S25 Ultra's sole battery-related advantage is wireless charging support, which the Nubia entirely lacks. For users embedded in a wireless charging ecosystem — on a desk pad, in a car mount, or on a bedside pad — this is a genuine convenience trade-off worth weighing. But wireless charging is typically slower than wired and supplementary rather than primary for most users.

The Nubia Z70S Ultra wins the battery category convincingly. A larger capacity, faster wired charging, and a bundled charger form a compelling trifecta. The S25 Ultra's wireless charging support is a lifestyle convenience, but it does not offset the Nubia's substantial advantages in endurance and charging speed for the majority of users.

Strip away the shared baseline — stereo speakers, no headphone jack, aptX and aptX HD on both — and the audio comparison becomes a tale of two Bluetooth codec ecosystems. The S25 Ultra supports LDAC, Sony's high-resolution wireless codec capable of transmitting up to 990 kbps, making it the go-to choice for users with Sony or LDAC-compatible headphones who want near-lossless wireless audio quality. The Nubia Z70S Ultra takes a different path, offering aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless instead — Qualcomm's more recent codec stack that combines adaptive bitrate streaming with the ability to transmit actual lossless CD-quality audio to compatible receivers.

In practical terms, aptX Lossless represents a technically higher ceiling than LDAC when both the source and headphones support it, as it transmits bit-perfect audio rather than a high-bitrate approximation. aptX Adaptive further adds low-latency modes beneficial for gaming and video. The S25 Ultra's LDAC, however, has significantly broader real-world compatibility given Sony's wide ecosystem of supported headphones and speakers.

This category is genuinely split by use case rather than a clean win for either side. Users already invested in Sony or LDAC-compatible audio gear will prefer the S25 Ultra, while those with Qualcomm-ecosystem headphones or who prioritize true lossless wireless transmission will find the Nubia Z70S Ultra the more future-facing choice. Neither holds an unconditional advantage over the other.

Wireless connectivity is a near-perfect draw: both phones offer identical Wi-Fi 7 support, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, 5G, USB 3.2 Type-C, and the same peak download and upload speeds. Where the two diverge is in the details of SIM flexibility and onboard sensors. The S25 Ultra supports 2 physical SIMs plus 2 eSIMs, giving it unmatched flexibility for travelers or users managing personal and work lines — the Nubia offers 2 physical SIMs with no eSIM support at all, which is a meaningful limitation as carrier eSIM adoption continues to grow.

Sensor loadouts tell an interesting story of different priorities. The S25 Ultra includes a barometer — useful for accurate altitude readings, weather apps, and certain fitness tracking scenarios — and supports ANT+, the low-power protocol used widely by fitness accessories like heart rate straps and cycling sensors. The Nubia counters with an infrared sensor, enabling it to function as a universal remote control for TVs and other IR-compatible devices, a feature niche but genuinely appreciated by users who want it.

The single most consequential differentiator in this category, however, is the included stylus on the S25 Ultra. A built-in precision input device opens up handwriting, annotation, and detailed on-screen work that the Nubia simply cannot replicate without an accessory. Combined with its eSIM advantage and broader sensor suite, the S25 Ultra takes a clear edge in connectivity and features overall, with the Nubia's infrared sensor being the only area where it holds a unique capability.

Across every spec in this group, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and the ZTE Nubia Z70S Ultra are identical: both have a video light, neither uses sapphire glass, and both feature flat, non-e-paper displays. There is nothing in this data set that distinguishes one device from the other.

This is a complete tie. Based strictly on the provided miscellaneous specs, neither product holds any advantage over the other.