Samsung Galaxy S25 series arrives, Week 4 in review

It was officially Samsung week in the past seven days and it culminated with Samsung’s Unpacked January 2025 event, which saw the unveiling of the Galaxy S25 models and a tease of the Galaxy S25 Edge.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra brought a new rounder design, added a 50MP ultrawide to its camera system, a Snapdragon 8 Elite, and a next-gen Gorilla Armor 2 display that’s even more durable, yet still anti-reflective. Not the most inspired yet still not the worst update in the world.

We can’t say the same of the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25+, which are mostly the same as their predecessors, aside from the shiny new Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. Samsung only teased the Galaxy S25 Edge – formerly known as Slim – and showcased its svelte body. It will have two cameras and that’s all we know at this point.

We were able to do two camera shootouts between the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the Galaxy S24 Ultra, comparing all their cameras – from the unchanged 200MP main, 50MP 5x, 10MP 3x, and 12MP selfie – to the new 50MP ultrawide vs the 12MP of old. The early verdict is that the old model is capable of handling its own versus its replacement.

The Google Pixel 9a isn’t even official, yet already we’re reading rumors about the Pixel 10a, due in early 2026. It will reportedly either opt for a lower-performance version of the Tensor G5 or possibly opt for the Tensor G4 inside the Pixel 9 series. This would mark a deviation in Google’s usual a-model strategy where the current model shares the chip of its flagship peers.