I take no pleasure in saying this, but when the rumors in regards to the Galaxy S25 sequence are true, then these telephones look boring as hell. That could be high quality, besides that Samsung is asking us all to get very enthusiastic about them by internet hosting a giant, loud launch occasion. And I feel it’s time for Samsung — and truthfully, the trade as a complete — to look within the mirror and ask: do we actually want this?
I’m not saying Samsung or another tech firm ought to throw a bunch of spaghetti on the wall and cram some questionably helpful stuff into their telephones only for the sake of it. That helps no person. It’s simply that getting up onstage and declaring that these telephones are essentially totally different and new needs to be a very special day. And that was true! But now, it’s only a factor we do yearly that feels so much just like the factor we did final yr.
In this explicit season of cell innovation, {hardware} simply isn’t as essential because it as soon as was. Take the iPhone 16; the launch occasion centered a lot on software program options that Apple known as it “Glowed Up.” But when the telephones shipped, these software program options weren’t prepared, and all we actually had was a single new button. Did we’d like all that fanfare?
Google’s on a barely totally different trajectory because it fully overhauled its Pixel cellphone sequence just a few years in the past. It’s nonetheless determining the best way to make a chipset that doesn’t flip your cellphone right into a hand hotter when you do too many issues or how precisely to make the digital camera bump go sideways. It appears like plenty of that has been settled within the Pixel 9 sequence, however even that launch occasion was largely about software program options and the various ways in which Gemini now inhabits its telephones.
Hardware simply isn’t as essential because it as soon as was
Samsung is much from alone right here, however I feel it’s honest to say that the Galaxy sequence is in a very stagnant part. The S-series telephones have mainly appeared and behaved the identical for the previous few years, and all indicators level to extremely minor updates for the S25 sequence. Even the corporate’s folding telephones have modified little or no over the previous couple of years. Apple didn’t give us a lot with the iPhone 16, however at least there was that new button.
There’s one hopeful glimmer on the horizon: slim telephones. Rumors point out that Samsung would possibly present one off at Unpacked, and it looks as if Apple could be gearing as much as launch a slim iPhone 17 later this yr. Is a cellphone that’s a few millimeters thinner something? I don’t know, however it could feel and look essentially totally different than final yr’s cellphone, which is greater than I can say about most of the telephones I examined in 2024. Samsung’s slim cellphone may not arrive till May, so it appears like we’d get a teaser tomorrow at finest.
So right here’s what I feel: let’s deliver again S years. Remember the S yr iPhones? When Apple provided minor spec bumps however known as it an iPhone 6S as an alternative of an iPhone 6? Let’s do this once more! Let’s have the massive, flashy bulletins, however not yearly. Let’s save them for the massive moments when the tech is prepared and it appears or behaves essentially otherwise. Give us a cause to get excited, as a result of the identical outdated fanfare is getting just a little stale.
