Samsung Unpacked 2025 Live Blog: New Galaxy S25 Line Teases an Edge Phone

Samsung may have an additional surprise. The final moment of the press conference includes a reference to a "Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge" and a quick flash of phone parts. However, the conference ended abruptly after this flash of the device.

Pricing for the Samsung Galaxy S25 series has been revealed. The S25 will cost $800, while the S25 Plus will cost $1,000. The Galaxy S25 Ultra will be a hefty $1,300. Preorders start today. The phone will hit stores on Feb. 7. 

The Galaxy S25 series launches on Friday, Feb. 7. Preorders start today.

Samsung's big specs list chart for the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus.

Samsung's unveiling a program for taking phones that are no longer usable, and recycling those materials to make new batteries for phones. 

Samsung has set a new goal to incorporate at least one recycled material in every module of every mobile product by 2030.

Samsung's Bixby assistant got a small shout-out during the Smart Things presentation, discussing home devices. 

Samsung's health tips will soon include prompts to support mental health and resilience, and weekly reports meant to help improve your physical and mental energy. Your smart home will come in handy to help you get better rest through Samsung's broader Smart Things ecosystem. Samsung's goal is to control the home based on behaviors like falling asleep.

The pet care features of Samsung's Smart Things smart home standard take a turn on stage. It can help you monitor your pet's wellness, for example, or to turn on the TV to keep a dog company when its owner is away from home.

Samsung Health is adding some new features, including vascular load, antioxidant index, meal planning and mindfulness.

Log video, supported by the Galaxy S25 Ultra, could be helpful for video editors looking to get footage on the phone to a more professional level. "Log footage preserves more image information in the highlights and shadows, allowing for greater flexibility in editing colors and contrast in postproduction," CNET's Andy Lanxon explains. Apple's iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro support that standard too.

With AI, when shooting video, the Galaxy S25 can better isolate vocal audio. With a few quick swipes, you can tune down the noise of waves and the wind in the background, for example, to better isolate vocals. 

The Galaxy S25 is getting one major hardware improvement. And that's a 50-megapixel ultrawide camera. Usually, ultrawide cameras tend to have lower megapixel counts than that.

Nature documentary filmmaker Jonathan Clay introduces a film about "our deep connection to the ocean." His doc Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet, narrated by David Attenborough, is streaming on Netflix.

The Galaxy S25 phones' cameras are now up, with Samsung touting its ProVisual engine for processing images. The phones will get the ability to adjust aperture or to create custom looks based on prior photos.

All in all, the Samsung Galaxy S25 doesn't look wildly different from the S24. It really does look very similar, with some minor changes, like a slightly larger screen and more rounded corners. Maybe side-by-side it'll be easier to tell. But overall, we're not seeing a major design change from the S24.

The Galaxy S25 series will feature "our longest battery life yet," Samsung says. You'll be able to watch videos and play games longer before you need a charger.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra will get Corning Gorilla Armor 2 for its display, which will hopefully improve the screen's durability.

The S25 gets a new thermal interface material to stay cool during long gaming sessions. Samsung says that the S25 will have 18% better gaming performance with increased ray-tracing capabilities. This is all in a slimmer chassis.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 series runs on the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy processor, meaning that Qualcomm's latest chip is being fine-tuned specifically for the S25 phones. This will power gaming and more intensive tasks.

The Galaxy S25 series will be the first to get live conversations. This new capability combines Gemini Live and "multimodal context." You can have discussions about pictures on your phone, YouTube videos or PDFs. An example included a picture of a Labrador retriever and the questions, "How's my composition?" and, "How can I make this more vibrant?"

Samsung briefly shows a teaser image of its AR/VR glasses, powered by Android XR. But no details were mentioned. 

In a major change for Samsung, a long press of the power button will bring up Google Gemini and not Samsung Bixby. It seems that Google's assistant is now the default on Samsung devices. That doesn't mean Bixby is dead. You might still be able to switch to Bixby as your default assistant. But out-of-the-box defaults are powerful. And if Gemini is the default assistant, it essentially will put Bixby on the chopping block. 

AI Select recommends AI features based on what's on your screen. For example, if you're looking at text, generative writing assist offers a menu of AI writing tools. It can summarize your text, do a spell check or edit the tone.

The on-device search will include specific results about photos, with an example shown looking for a photo of a dog wearing a red coat in front of a cake (hopefully not actually eating it).

One of the smaller, but still cool, features Samsung showed off was being able to do quick tasks by just asking your phone. For example, you can tell your phone that your eyes are tired and it'll turn on the blue light filter. This means you don't need to filter through different settings and menus.

Samsung's Personal Data Engine is going to rely on a Knowledge Graph feature to help make recommendations based on context. It's meant to combine what the phone knows about a user's experience, with examples such as where a song was heard while at a location like the gym.

With the Personal Data Engine, it understands your context and routines to give you morning briefs that are tuned to you. It uses "knowledge graphs" to parse through complex data in the same way humans would. In the past, apps operated individually. The Personal Data Engine looks at all your apps to give you a holistic and personalized experience. It looks at data across all all your devices. Samsung says it'll change the way users interact with their devices. This is a partnership between Samsung and Oxford Semantic Technologies. 

Drew Blackard, vice president of mobile project management, says Galaxy AI now supports 20 languages for in-person and call translations.

In the AI world, there's lots of concern about your data being shared to big companies. Samsung says the Personal Data Engine is a mix of hardware and software that keeps your data secure on your device. It's still unsure what amount of data is shared with Samsung and Google when using Gemini and other AI features. 

Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked is underway, but you can check out the full reveal of the Galaxy S25 line right now.

Our first looks at the Samsung Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25 Plus and the highest-end Galaxy S25 Ultra are now live.

AI is getting more powerful in the Galaxy S25. Live Video is a feature in which your phone can look at what you're doing, like rolling a ball of dough, and tell you what to do next. 

Samsung confirms the Galaxy S25. Roh says that the company has developed a new operating system called One UI 7. This OS is built from the ground-up with AI, according to Roh. This means a lot more Google Gemini integrations. Demis Hasabis, Google DeepMind CEO, gives some details in a prerecorded video. It's surprising he didn't fly out from London for this event.

The Unpacked stream is starting now with TM Roh, president of Samsung's mobile experience business.

Samsung Galaxy Unpacked is a go! TM Roh takes the stage.

With its Galaxy S24 range, Samsung upped its support period to offer seven years of software and security updates. That means the S24, launched in 2024, should still be safe to use in 2031. Samsung and Google are on par here, with Google offering similar support periods for its recent Pixel 9 range and both companies are already among the leaders here. 

But even so, I'd like to see both Samsung and Google take this further, offering longer support periods to help keep your phone safe to use for even more years to come. In so doing, it would not only increase the amount of time before you need to upgrade your phone, but also encourage other companies to up their game and offer longer support. 

Remember that using a phone outside of its software support period isn't safe. Longer support is not just better for your wallet, it's better for the planet, as fewer old devices hit landfill.

Right now, Samsung is just playing a few commercials on repeat until the event starts. Just a few more minutes!

The Galaxy S24 Ultra was one of the best camera phones released in 2024, thanks to its solid overall image quality and impressive zoom lens. Sadly, most rumors suggest that the S25 Ultra won't see a significant upgrade to its cameras this year, with many of the key specs expected to remain the same. 

On the one hand, the S24 Ultra was already so good that a full refresh of its camera system arguably wasn't necessary. However, imaging quality remains one of the top factors influencing people's buying decisions. Xiaomi's 14 Ultra was able to take some of the best images we've ever seen from a phone thanks to its large image sensor, while Apple's introduction of Photographic Styles was CNET Senior Editor Lisa Eadicicco's favorite new feature on the iPhone 16 Pro. 

If Samsung doesn't have some neat new camera tech in its pocket this time round, it risks keen photographers looking elsewhere for their next camera phones.

The CNET team is arriving to the Samsung Unpacked event in San Jose, which is starting soon.

Samsung has staked a claim as the first to release a batch of premium phones every year, and they typically sport the leading Qualcomm mobile chip introduced months before. This year, it's the Snapdragon 8 Elite, which aside from some new AI features will also include some intriguing extras -- but only if phone-makers opt to include them in their devices. Will the Galaxy S25 series have AI-powered face lighting for selfies? Faster web browsing to speed up apps? Support for Xpan to seamlessly shift external speaker audio from Bluetooth to Wi-Fi? We'll have to wait and see if Samsung found these compelling enough to work into its new phones.

It's been two years since Apple launched its Emergency SOS features on the iPhone 14 to let users call for help via satellite, and that was recently expanded to allow text messages to other iPhones. There have been a couple unsuccessful initiatives to bring similar features to Android phones, like Snapdragon Satellite, and the carrier with the farthest-along similar service, T-Mobile using SpaceX's Starlink, is still in a testing phase. What will Samsung do to catch up in the satellite texting race? We'll have to wait and see if they have a surprise partnership in store... or if Samsung's phones will continue ceding ground to iPhones and the Google Pixel 9 in this feature niche.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 will use the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, according to Korean site ETNews, via SamMobile. Considering the S25 is Samsung's flagship device for 2025, it makes sense that it would go with a highly powerful chip. At the same time, however, Samsung's been trying to push its own Exynos line of chips in its flagship devices, as its done in overseas markets. Samsung still lags behind Qualcomm in the mobile processor arena. And in America's highly competitive premium smartphone market, Samsung can't play things safe when it's going up against Apple.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite chip is highly competitive with Apple's A18 Pro chip, per benchmarks. While synthetic benchmark tests don't equate to an optimal phone experience, when shelling out $1,000 for a phone, buyers want to know they're getting the best of the best.

One of the biggest things Samsung emphasized in its Unpacked invite is Galaxy AI, which isn't surprising, given the fact that AI has taken center stage at just about every tech event lately. And with Apple supercharging Siri to become more conversational and powerful with iOS 18 and Apple Intelligence, it's likely Samsung will give a boost to its Bixby virtual assistant, too.

Now that AI is embedded into just about everything, it's up to companies to really sell users on the technology, and prove it's more than just a buzzword or marketing gimmick. A CNET survey from August 2024 found that a quarter of smartphone owners don't find AI features helpful – which is likely to change as people become more familiar with AI-backed features and, critically, as companies tweak those features to better suit what people actually want, whether it's simplifying tasks or making it easier to navigate apps and devices. 

We'll see just how many times the word "AI" is uttered at this event. Will Samsung beat Google's tally?

Samsung's One UI -- the user interface that sits on top of Google's Android operating system -- provides a number of customizations to give Samsung's Galaxy phones their distinct look and feel. The Samsung-focused SamMobile blog has counted up some of these enhancements that are coming to One UI 7.0, which is currently available in beta. 

These include a Now Bar, which is a take on Apple's Dynamic Island that provides contextual information like media controls while in other apps. The difference with the Now Bar is that it's positioned at the bottom of the screen. The One UI 7.0 beta also features enhanced lock screen customizations, such as new widgets and clock styles.

While these features will arrive to older Galaxy phones along with the presumed Galaxy S25, it's possible that the features will get a share of the spotlight at Wednesday's event.

Samsung launched the first-gen Galaxy Ring in July after teasing it in January. While the wearable hasn't been with us for long, it's possible Wednesday's Unpacked event will bring details on the Galaxy Ring 2. A DigiTimes report indicates Samsung could introduce a new ring with longer battery life, improved health data sensors and new AI features. It could also come in two new sizes.

Unfortunately for iPhone users, the current Galaxy Ring is only compatible with Android phones. CNET's sister site ZDNET notes this aspect likely won't change with the Galaxy Ring 2. Still, it's on their Ring 2 wishlist along with NFC payment functionality, sleep apnea detection and digital sizing.

Last year, Samsung's Galaxy S24 line became the company's first flagship phone to include seven years of software and security update support, matching what Google provided a few months earlier for the Pixel 8. Samsung has followed suit by extending software and security support timelines across its product line, with even the new $200 Galaxy A16 receiving a six-year commitment.

While I am not expecting Samsung to make this commitment even longer for the Galaxy S25, I am curious what this will mean for the overall value of its prior Galaxy S24 line after the S25 arrives. Samsung does typically continue selling its older phones until stock depletes at slightly reduced pricing, which will keep the S24 on the market. I do believe Samsung will have to make a clear reason why the S25 could be worth top dollar when the S24 and S24 FE will still have plenty of years of support to come.

We often take an abstract look at Apple event invites to see if they provide iPhone clues, and in that spirit, let's take a theoretical look at this Samsung Unpacked invite to see if it provides something new about the expected Galaxy S25.

My first instinct when seeing the "X"-like shape is noting that it does resemble the Galaxy AI icon somewhat, but tilted sideways a bit. Perhaps Galaxy AI will get a light rebrand this year, which could be helpful, since tech companies have been using an iteration on the sparkle icon for their AI products. As my colleague Katelyn Chedraoui notes in her commentary on that emoji subject, it's likely time to create something a little more original for generative AI, since many of its tools do involve generating new content from prompts.

We'll likely find out more about what's next for Galaxy AI during the Wednesday event, alongside the presumed Galaxy S25.