Founded in 1938, Samsung is the largest chaebol in South Korea. The myriad of companies under its brand are some of the biggest in their respective industries, but Samsung Electronics is the most notable. It makes some of the most popular phones in use today, and its flagship portfolio includes the Galaxy S-series and foldable Z-series devices. It also makes televisions, tablets, computers, headphones, and many of the displays, chips, and batteries found in devices from Apple, Sony, and others.
The battery — among other things.
Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S25, S25 Plus and S25 Ultra, and new AI features. It also teased the Galaxy S25 Edge, its rumored ‘slim’ phone.
Samsung says that users can test the One UI 7 beta on the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 in India, Korea, the UK, and the US beginning March 6th. This month, the beta will also be available on Galaxy S23 series smartphones, Tab S10 series tablets, and A55 phones, Samsung says.
The update is set to officially launch in April.
[news.samsung.com]
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YouTuber Alexis Garza showed off what he said is the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, Samsung’s unreleased ultra-slim phone, in a video posted (and later removed) today.
Garza compared its thickness with an unfolded Galaxy Z Fold 6 and showed specs that included 12GB RAM, a 4,000mAh battery, and dual 12MP rear cameras, though the AIDA64 app he used may have had that last part wrong, according to Android Authority.
Update February 22nd: The video has been removed.
While everyone was busy looking at the new iPhone 16E, Samsung Chile accidentally confirmed the existence of the Korean company’s own affordable rival phones. The Galaxy A56, A36, and A26 are all currently listed on an out-of-warranty repairs page, as spotted by SamMobile. That confirms three new phones are on the way, and almost certainly arriving soon.
[samsung.com]
Yesterday leaker Evan Blass shared renders of Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy A56, and today he’s followed up with the similar looking Galaxy A36. It has the same redesigned camera module and raised power and volume button island.
We’re more confident the A36 will launch Stateside — while the A55 skipped the US, the A35 launched as the best phone for under $400.
But at $70, Samsung’s new Galaxy S25 Crocs case is more expensive than Crocs for your feet.
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Verge Score
There’s something very familiar about this year’s S-series phones.
Sure, the S Pen lost its Bluetooth features with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. But you know what hasn’t changed? It still smells kinda bad. I confirmed this myself when I unboxed the phone in San Jose, and have verified with another colleague who remarked that it smells “plasticky.” And guess what? That’s not even the only thing that stinks about it.
Instead of having to fuss with a pull tab that’s supposed to release the battery from its adhesive, Samsung secured the S25 Ultra’s battery with tape, as shown in this teardown from JerryRigEverything. Now you can simply peel back the tape covering the battery and then lift it out — no isopropyl alcohol required.
Samsung stripped Bluetooth features from the stylus in the Galaxy S25 Ultra as a cost-cutting measure, citing a survey reporting only one percent of users took advantage of the Bluetooth controls and Air Actions anyway.
It’s a cut to Samsung’s costs though, not users’ — the company is selling its official replacement S25 Ultra S Pens for $49.99, the exact same price as last year’s Bluetooth versions.
[samsung.com]
Nepograndbaby Jay Y. Lee was found not guilty of accounting fraud and stock manipulation around activities that secured his succession to the Samsung throne. The decision — presumably granted in response to an impassioned “It doesn’t even make any sense! I’m the eldest boy!” plea — can still be appealed to South Korea’s Supreme Court. The scandal dates back to 2017.
Powered by ultra-wideband, the next generation of smart locks will turn your phone into a key — that you never have to use.
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Verge Score
Still big. Still great. But Samsung is losing the plot on what makes the Ultra so extra.
Yes, it does look a lot like Apple’s Vision Pro, but that is actually Project Moohan, the Samsung / Google project we tried out last month and saw again recently at Samsung Unpacked.
In this YouTube video, Marques Brownlee shows some views you may not have seen yet of the hardware and what the Android UI looks like for the wearer.
The radar-based technology can detect movements as slight as breathing, so it won’t turn the lights out on you when you’re sitting on the couch.
Superior to PIR sensing, mmWave is seeing fast adoption, with Samsung seemingly poised to add it to its appliances. Here’s a great explainer from The Ambient on how the tech could help your smart home.
0Head of customer experience Jay Kim mentioned “multifold” devices during his section of the keynote, though we didn’t get any more detail than that. So far only Huawei has released commercial hardware that can fold more than once, but Samsung has demonstrated the tech in concept devices, and is rumored to have a launch planned this year.
We’ve reached the customary sustainability / greenwashing part of the presentation. There’s a lot of talk about our oneness with the ocean, but the one that caught my eye was this program to recycle the cobalt from old Samsung gadget batteries into new ones.
It’s me unleashing a great, big, fat sigh as Samsung talks about a new Antioxidant index that’ll come later this year to its Health app.
Samsung said nada about how it’ll track this, but it’s giving the same energy as the AGES index it introduced last year that supposedly tracked your metabolic health. I’ll believe it when I can test it.
