I tried playing emulators on the Galaxy S25 Ultra with DeX, and I have thoughts

Samsung has offered DeX mode since 2017, providing a PC-like interface when connected to an external display. Several other Android phone brands have since embraced this feature, but I’d argue that DeX is still the best.

I don’t have an official DeX Pad or DeX Station, but I do have a budget-tier Jsaux dock for my Steam Deck. It turns out this works just fine. It’s powered by a USB-C port and features four USB-A ports for accessories, an Ethernet port (albeit 100Mbps), and an HDMI port. The one significant downside is that the dock’s design and the rigid nature of the accompanying USB-C cable means my S25 Ultra fits awkwardly into the dock’s cradle. You can also try twisting the USB-C cable and leaving the phone out of the dock. That’s an even jankier approach, but it works.

I’d also caution anyone setting up their Galaxy phone for emulation via DeX to do so directly on the phone or with a keyboard and mouse instead of using a controller via DeX. Navigating Dex with a controller is not a thing; it’s easier to use the touchscreen or keyboard/mouse to set things up (e.g. installing a BIOS and apps, making game-specific tweaks). I also found the keyboard and mouse handy for file/folder management.

Speaking of a keyboard, my wireless keyboard/trackpad combo and USB mouse worked just fine when plugged into this third-party dock. My Xbox One S controller also worked well enough. But what about the actual gaming experience?

What was it like to use emulators on S25 Ultra with DeX?

I tried everything from PlayStation One and PS2 emulators to GameCube and PS3 emulation. I also tried running PC games on the phone. So what worked and what didn’t?

The good news is that PS1, Nintendo 64, and Sega Dreamcast titles generally ran extremely smoothly via DeX. The phone ran without heating up, and there was plenty of headroom to increase the resolution. You’ll definitely want to boost the visuals on these games, as many titles haven’t aged well. Talk about rose-tinted shades. Either way, this performance isn’t a surprise because these consoles can be emulated on ancient budget phones.

Perhaps my favorite consoles to emulate via DeX were the PS2 and GameCube. I had to use NetherSX2 instead of AetherSX2 for PS2 emulation as the latter app repeatedly crashed for some reason. Nevertheless, I was able to run titles like Gran Turismo 4 and TOCA Race Driver 3 at a smooth clip with enough room to crank things up. Meanwhile, the Dolphin emulator wasn’t perfect, owing to some slowdown here and there, depending on the game. But most tested games ran very smoothly, and I ended up getting halfway through Tony Hawk’s Underground. I did find that turning on the widescreen hack could result in a glitchy experience in some titles, so you might have to endure significant letterboxing. Thankfully, the S25 Ultra only really got warm at best rather than actually running hot.

Moving on to PC gaming, I found the Winlator app easy to navigate with a keyboard and mouse (no surprise given its Wine origins). However, my controller didn’t seem to support desktop navigation. Unfortunately, the few titles I tried that worked on older phones didn’t run here.

The recently released GameHub app by GameSir also offers local PC gaming along with extremely intuitive gamepad navigation. That’s a big plus if you want to engage in couch gaming. The app includes links to download game demos. I tried three or four demos (including Resident Evil 2 Remake) as well as a couple of my own games, but none of them worked. I’m guessing that the early nature of Snapdragon 8 Elite community drivers is the issue with PC gaming on the S25 Ultra. Your mileage might vary when it comes to compatibility, and it’s worth trying both apps if you’re really determined to play a specific PC game. Otherwise, you should use an older Galaxy flagship phone or just wait a few months for these issues to be resolved. It’s also worth noting that both Winlator and GameHub need to be sideloaded. Furthermore, GameHub now supports Steam integration, but I haven’t tried this out yet.

Perhaps the most intriguing frontier is PlayStation 3 emulation. The developer behind the RPCS3-Android emulator pulled off a miracle to get PS3 games running on a smartphone, and the Alpha 6 release includes Bluetooth controller support.

This emulator is in the early stages of development (and it’s since been merged with the RPCSX project), so quite a few games don’t start at all, run very poorly, or have significant glitches. Fortunately, I was still able to play a few games like 1942 Joint Strike and 3D Dot Game Heroes at a playable pace. Afterburner Climax also started out well enough but very quickly devolved into frequent slideshows. I should also note that the Galaxy S25 Ultra got very hot while running this emulator, particularly along the top-left corner. That can’t be good for battery health or longer gaming sessions. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Afterburner’s degraded performance came as a result of throttling.

I hadn’t used DeX since 2017, but the great thing is that it still feels like using a PC after all this time. That extends to resizable windows, the familiar maximize/minimize/close icons, and the ability to create app shortcuts. So it doesn’t feel too dissimilar from gaming on a PC.

Peripheral support also functioned well enough, my mouse, keyboard, and Xbox One S controller all connected and worked just fine. I was also able to plug in my portable hard drive, allowing me to quickly copy over ROMs and other files as needed.

DeX could use some improvements, though. For one, it doesn’t support ultrawide resolutions at all, which is disappointing but not surprising. Another notable issue is the lack of bypass or passthrough charging while running in DeX mode. Allowing the phone to be directly powered by the charger would reduce stress on the battery, in theory, and help reduce temperatures more broadly.

Perhaps the biggest issue I have with playing games/emulators on Dex with the Galaxy S25 Ultra is that Samsung’s desktop environment doesn’t play nicely with a controller. Some people online recommend using a PS4 gamepad as it has a trackpad to aid in navigation. Still, you’re in for an unintuitive experience if you have an Xbox gamepad or something similar. In fact, I would’ve liked to see a gaming-focused DeX UI akin to EmulationStation or a typical console interface.

I had plenty of fun playing a variety of emulators via DeX on the Galaxy S25 Ultra, with PS2, GameCube, and similarly older consoles running very smoothly, as you’d expect. However, the extra horsepower afforded by the Snapdragon 8 Elite is somewhat wasted right now as more cutting-edge projects like PC gaming apps and PS3 emulation are either in their early days or suffer from a dearth of adequate drivers.

In other words, I can’t recommend you buy a Galaxy S25 Ultra to run emulators on a big screen, as older (and, more importantly, cheaper) Ultra phones still seem to offer better or comparable support for the latest apps. Furthermore, older emulators run smoothly enough on legacy Galaxy flagships anyway.

In fact, the biggest issue I have with playing emulators on DeX is that you can’t have a true couch gaming experience without a keyboard or mouse to navigate the system UI. I’d love to see Samsung add improved gamepad navigation and other missing features (e.g. bypass charging) in the future. Sadly, I doubt Samsung really intends for Dex to be used this way.