Samsung’s first big launch of 2025 is just around the corner. galaxy unpacked Confirmed for January 22nd at 1PM ET in San Jose, CA, where Samsung’s “Next Big Thing” (to borrow 14 year old marketing slogan) will be disclosed. What will actually be on tap? Well, except for certain bets and a few potential Leaked, only those who took the blood oath under the NDA know for sure. But here we will look at the most likely products and features. Spoiler: there will be phones.
Galaxy S25, S25+ and S25 Ultra
Just like Apple unveils its latest iPhones This is the first fall eventSamsung launches its mainline Galaxy S flagships as usual First unpacked shindig of the yearyou bet that farm Desire There will be Galaxy S25 phones in this event. And considering Samsung’s recent trend of launching three tiers of flagships – Standard, Plus and Ultra – You can bet we’ll see him again. (Samsung may technically change the brand name, but a three-tier lineup is practically guaranteed.) There’s even a FCC certification (First spotted By 91mobiles) for the removal of any doubt.
The degree of certainty drops rapidly once we look at the phone’s specifications. Based on the leaks a subtle redesign with rounded corners, flattened edges and thinner bezels is likely Video Posted on Reddit and Images From the reputable tipster Ice Universe. But don’t expect this to be Samsung’s generation Appointment of a former Mercedes-Benz designer This will cause drastic aesthetic changes.
Android Headlines Too posted a lot of pictures What appears to be a relatively minor redesign of the alleged Galaxy S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra. The site also claims that the screen size of the Galaxy S25 and S25+ is unchanged from last year at 6.2 and 6.7 inches respectively. The Ultra gets a slightly larger display of 6.9 inches.
At least in the US, phone usage is practically guaranteed Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite The processor, which the chip maker revealed in October. (Also Qualcomm listed Samsung is among the companies launching devices with that processor “in the coming weeks.”) Like almost every flagship processor these days, the Snapdragon 8 Elite is built to have on-device Generator AI, which aligns with its It happens. Samsung’s Galaxy AI Blitz In recent models.
We don’t know if the company will split its S25 processors between Snapdragon (US and other markets) and Exynos (everywhere), but Ice Universe claimed It will all be Snapdragon in this generation. This would be a good thing, given that the disparity in great performance and battery life is often in Qualcomm’s favor. There will also be priority: although the vast majority of Galaxy S generations had regionally different processors, the S23 had the globally exclusive “Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2” chip for the Galaxy.
Samsung is rumored to stick with the previous generation OLED displays (M13 made from organic materials) instead of the brighter and more efficient M14 OLED panels used in this one. iPhone 16 Pro And google pixel 9Logic suggests that Samsung would want the best homemade screen in its best phone – especially when its competitors are already using it. But it can be combined with cheaper panels to keep the bill of materials low. Perhaps it calculated that better displays don’t make better generative AI (the obsession of almost every tech company right now), while the latest Qualcomm chip does.
Speaking of AI, expect Samsung to devote a perhaps excruciatingly long portion of the event to generative AI features. hit-or-miss digitimes informed Last month the Galaxy S25 series will include “an AI agent that provides personalized clothing suggestions and transportation information.” What this will look like in practice is anyone’s guess, but I’m not sure I want to know.
phones will work Samsung’s One UI 7 On top of Android 15. We know this because Samsung said in October that its user experience (based on Android 15) would be Launching on the next Galaxy S flagshipIt is already available in beta Galaxy S24 phoneSamsung has said that One UI 7 will be its “first unified AI platform”. It says Galaxy phones will “become true AI companions” capable of understanding natural language derived from speech, images and text.
On the camera front, Ice Universe Claim (via Android Headlines) It is “confirmed” that only the ultra-wide sensor in the Galaxy S25 Ultra will see an upgrade – from 12MP to 50MP in last year’s model. The leaker says that the S25 Ultra will come with a 200MP main sensor, 10MP 3x zoom, and 50MP 5x zoom.
Samsung will do Add Qi2 wireless charging standard As for its new flagship – and this comes straight from the mouth of the horse (aka, the Wireless Power Consortium). However, leaker chunwan8888 (aka “yawning”) They say Samsung phones won’t have built-in magnets for Qi2 natively MagSafe in everything but name Charging. Given that this is the main benefit of the Qi2, this would be disappointing news. Instead, the leaker says Samsung will sell a first-party case with a Qi2 magnetic ring to enable it. (Gotta move that stuff, baby!) If you need a case, is it really the Qi2?
there are rumors echo An alleged Galaxy S25 Slim with – you guessed it – a slimmer design will join the trio at some point this year. This is something that Apple It is also rumored to be working onHowever, given that the FCC certification only covers the familiar trio of flagships, that phone (if it’s in the pipeline) may not arrive until the end of the year.
Galaxy Ring 2, Samsung XR and AR Glasses
digitimes informed Samsung will show (or maybe just tease) the Galaxy Ring 2 and augmented reality (AR) glasses during its January Unpacked event in December.
Taiwanese publication says Galaxy Ring 2 will add two more sizes to the nine original modelWhich launched only in July. The second-generation wearable health tracker is said to add new AI features (surprise!) and updated sensors for more accurate measurements. The Galaxy Ring 2 is also rumored to last longer than the current model’s maximum of seven days.
digitimes Samsung also claims AR glasses – which the company has Confirmed that it is in the works – Will look like regular prescription glasses and weigh about 50 grams. It states that future glasses will be used Google’s Gemini AIWhich is in line with what we already know about Samsung Partnership with Google and Qualcomm On Android XR. But given the lack of supply chain rumors about the glasses, it’s likely that any mention at the event will be little more than a teaser, especially as its grand reveal… a stinker render for the first galaxy ring On Unpacked 2024.
We also know that Samsung is co-developing an Android XR (extended reality) headset – codenamed Project Mohan – with Google and Qualcomm. The “lightweight” and “ergonomically designed” headset will feature a “state-of-the-art display”, passthrough video and natural multi-modal input. Google’s renderings are reminiscent of a wearable thing Apple’s $3,500 Vision Pro,
Since Google only recently started offering a developer kit and API for the platform, any glimpse of it on Unpacked is unlikely to include an imminent release or an in-depth look at its hardware.
Engadget will have full coverage of Samsung’s first Unpacked event of 2025. And more to come on January 22nd!
Update, January 13, 2025, 12:58 PM ET: This story has been updated with alleged images and more details on the Galaxy S25, S25+ and S25 Ultra Android Headlines.
Update, January 14, 2025, 3:20 PM ET: This story has been updated with some more information about One UI 7.
Update, January 17, 2025, 12:45 PM ET: This story has been updated with more information about the Galaxy S25 processor and the history of the processor in the Galaxy S series.
