Attendees walk past the logo of Samsung Galaxy (Photo by JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images)
With an expected launch in January 2025, Samsung’s Galaxy S family will again set the smartphone tone for the first half of the year. It looks like Samsung is preparing a significant update for the S25 family in general and the Galaxy S25 Ultra in particular.
Why else would you give it the internal codename of “paradigm”?
These details on the Galaxy S25 Ultra come from the well-connected GalaxyClub team in The Netherlands. They also highlight that the latest design leaks do show a tweaked approach to the handset, moving towards a more angular and boxlike design by buffing out the curved edges.
It’s more likely that any shift worthy of a paradigm branding will be found inside the case. There is a continued arms race across many fronts. The quality and capability of the camera systems have improved in the Galaxy S year on year, as it has almost across the industry. Screen technology is constantly bettering itself, chipsets are growing thanks to Moore’s Law, and each year, the new phone is “better” than the previous year.
While a shift could come in hardware, it’s more likely any paradigm shift in hardware would come in the summer months through one of Samsung’s Galaxy Z foldable phones.
The other option would be to have a shift in the software. January 2024 saw Samsung release Galaxy AI. Thanks to the size of the Galaxy user base and Samsung ensuring that the software suite was backwards compatible across many phones in the Galaxy S and Galaxy A range, Galaxy AI is one of the biggest AI suites for smartphones.
Google released its second generation of smartphone AI with the Pixel 9 series in August. Samsung making a significant step forward in 2025 with new and improved features could be seen as a paradigm-shifting moment. To pick out one potential area, take Samsung’s recent focus on health and lifestyle. Increasing the use of AI to collect health data from a range of new accessories and then offering better analysis and guidance could be seen as a paradigm-shifting moment, depending on how far Samsung pushes the envelope.
With four months to go until launch, more details on Samsung’s flagship smartphone are sure to come into focus and the paradigm will make itself apparent.
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