A Jet Black Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra won't age well, but we'll buy it anyway

One of the most fun parts of buying a new tech product is choosing the color. Before you get to decide on your specifications, upgrades, and cost, you simply pick the color and finish that speaks to you the most.

There's no right or wrong answer here, but your choice will have some consequences. Certain colors are more desirable than others, which helps with resale and trade-in values later. Some finishes have better longevity, as lighter colorways hide scuffs and scratches better than darker ones. A matte silver smartphone might look better than a glossy black one after a year, for example.

That's why I'm always surprised when a tech company launches a "Jet Black" colorway, knowing full well that it'll look downright terrible after a few months — and that people will buy it anyway.

Samsung may soon repeat this cycle with the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which will reportedly feature a Jet Black color option. According to a recent leak, this model will be available in at least seven colorways, including Titanium Black, Titanium SilverBlue, Titanium Gray, Titanium WhiteSilver, Titanium JetBlack, Titanium JadeGreen, and Titanium PinkGold. These colorways are ranked in order of volume, so it's possible that the rumored Jet Black option will be a limited-run Samsung online store exclusive.

Even though there's plenty of precedent for deep black colorways scratching to extreme degrees, I have no doubt people will buy a Jet Black version of the Galaxy S25 Ultra anyway. Then, shortly after the phone releases, the internet will be inundated with social media posts of scuffed and mauled Galaxy S25 Ultra phones with the Jet Black colorway.

A single drop might take off part of the Jet Black finish. Putting your flagship Android phone in the same pocket as your car keys might add an unwanted "patina" to the otherwise unblemished Galaxy S25 Ultra. Eventually, the natural titanium color will shine through the Jet Black coating. When it does, you'll be left with a finish that somehow looks worse than Jet Black and a more forgiving color, such as White Silver.

There's a reason the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is destined to age unfavorably, and it has to do with the material it's made out of. Samsung switched to titanium last year, and that metal has a lot of perks. It's strong while being lightweight; however, it's not very scratch-resistant.

More importantly, "black titanium" does not exist, so a black coating needs to be applied to titanium in order to create that finish. It's different than anodization, which is used to create aluminum and titanium colors through an electrochemical process. Other ways to achieve a deep black titanium finish involve heating up the material to extreme temperatures or polishing it.

This means the black finish is only on the surface level of the titanium. A scratch is just a layer removed from a material, and every single scratch will take a bit of the Jet Black coloring off the Galaxy S25 Ultra. When they do, the natural silver color of the titanium material will shine through. If you're unsure what that looks like, we have plenty of real-world examples, including the Titanium Black versions of the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and iPhone 16 Pro.

Ultra 2 Black Scratches from r/AppleWatch

With all these things in mind, we know two things about the rumored Jet Black model of the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Samsung knows the black finish will scratch off, and people will buy it anyway. That's why companies keep making products with dark finishes that are destined to age terribly — consumers can't stop buying them. For some reason, we want to throw our money toward the risky pick rather than playing it safe with silver or white.

To be clear, I've been on both sides of the coin. My Natural Titanium Apple Watch Ultra and Porcelain Pixel 9 Pro Fold are both pristine to this day, and I've had the former for more than two years. Meanwhile, my Midnight-colored M2 MacBook Air is absolutely thrashed, with scratches along the palm rests and ports.

So, if Samsung launches a Jet Black Galaxy S25 Ultra and you end up buying one, don't be surprised when the natural titanium shines through the scratched black finish. It turns out that tech enthusiasts want what we can't have: a dark-colored product that hides scratches just as well as lighter colors. And Samsung's apparent decision to bring Jet Black to the Galaxy S25 Ultra shows that as long as we keep voting for those finishes with our wallets, brands will keep giving them to us.