Time is cyclical, and we’re already back at the part of the year where rumors about Samsung’s next major smartphone are clogging up the airwaves. I’m still toiling around with the latest Apple iPhone and Google Pixel releases, as I know I will be fielding many questions about them this holiday season. People will then ask if the Samsung Galaxy S25 is worth waiting for until after Christmas.
When is Galaxy Unpacked?
If you want the latest Samsung offers for bragging rights or because you’ve been due for an upgrade, you might as well wait until Samsung’s next Galaxy Unpacked event. There’s no concrete date yet set for the event, but based on the past few years of scheduling, January looks like the month to bring home a new Samsung flagship. Hopefully, Samsung will pack enough into its new hardware to win you over with a preorder deal they’ll inevitably offer leading up to the Galaxy S25’s launch.
What to expect from the Galaxy S25
Let’s talk about it: what are people anticipating from Samsung’s next flagship device? The company already teased in an earnings report that new hardware is the trajectory. This includes the Galaxy S25 series, which typically has three phone sizes, and any succeeding foldables and tablets. That same press release details what’s coming for wearables, too, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
The Galaxy S25 exists only in rumors, despite the official mention from its smartphone daddy. Even before the fear of inflated tariffs started looming over us, there were reports that Qualcomm’s chips and other parts of the Galaxy S25’s internal hardware would bump up the cost of phones launched in 2025. Samsung’s Galaxy series will likely be the first to suffer this fate and will set a precedent for how smartphones are priced for the rest of the year.
The chip inside the Galaxy S25 will undoubtedly be powerful. Earlier in the year, rumors had surfaced that it would be called the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, which made sense considering the latest naming convention. But now that the Snapdragon 8 Elite exists, there’s likely to be some collaboration between Samsung and Qualcomm for a chip that promises to loom over Google and Apple’s attempts at the AI game.
Although I cringe linking to X, formerly known as Twitter, one of the industry’s trusted leakers published renders a few months ago that suggest the smallest offering of the Galaxy S25 will be exactly 6.2 inches. The enormous Galaxy S25 Ultra is still set to be the biggest in the lineup with a 6.8-inch display, and it will focus on thinness and weight to compete with this year’s iPhone 16 Pro Max.
The rumor mill is just ramping up regarding other specifications. As we barrel toward the end of 2024, expect more details to arise on the Galaxy S25’s internals. Will Samsung opt for an absurd amount of memory in its flagships like its competition overseas? There’s also chatter about 360-degree camera capabilities as if to compete with the iPhone’s Spatial Video offerings.
What to expect from Samsung’s wearables
After the Galaxy S25 smartphones take the stage, Samsung will shift the spotlight to other sides of its gadget business. Wearables have been a significant focus for the manufacturer, especially since the introduction of the Galaxy Ring. But it seems too soon for Samsung to tease anything about the next generation of its finger-dwelling gadget. Then again, the company did surprise us with the official reveal of the Ring at the Galaxy S24’s Unpacked showcase.
Samsung might also beat Meta to the smart glasses hype. The company is working with Google and Qualcomm on a prototype for a pair of smart glasses. They could be what Samsung surprises us with at the end of January’s expected Galaxy S25 event.
We’ll update this page with more information about what’s coming from Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Galaxy Unpacked.