As the year draws to a close, we can look back on all the best smartphones of 2024 but also look excitingly ahead to the new ones to come in 2025. As usual, the first major Android phone launch of 2025 is likely to be from Samsung, one of the biggest in the business, and now the release date for the firm’s Galaxy S25 could well have been confirmed thanks to new leaks.
Samsung has already mentioned the existence of the “Galaxy S25 series” in a recent earnings call but until now it has been less clear when the phones themselves will be unveiled, with a Galaxy S25, S25 Plus and S25 Ultra expected.
Now, South Korean tech publication The Financial News has reported the Galaxy S25 series will launch on 23 January 2025, while European tech leaker Max Jambor insists the S25 will be announced on 22 January.
At first this looks like a disagreement, but Android Police reckons it’s because the phones will be launched at a San Francisco event on the 22nd, while the 23rd date represents the time difference to South Korea, where it will be on the 23rd.
The S24 series was announced in San Jose, California on Wednesday 17 January2024 , so it makes sense that Wednesday 22 January will be the date for 2025.
There are also rumours the firm could reveal a special ‘slim’ version of the S25, but details are patchy.
“The biggest difference from its predecessor is the addition of a slim model,” The Financial News reports (translated into English). “The slim model has the same performance as the Galaxy S25, but is thinner and more convenient. The specific thickness has not been disclosed yet, but it is likely to be thinner than the Galaxy S24 general model (7.6mm).”
This means Samsung fans could have a choice of four different Galaxy S25 models. The tech giant could be racing to have this slim variant ready for January so it can get several months of marketing and sales under its belt before Apple potentially releases a slim version of the iPhone 17, which is rumoured to be the case for 2025’s main iPhone launch, likely in September.
Leaker Yogesh Brar has agreed the S25 will come in the second half of January but without specifying a date. He also says the whole lineup will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite worldwide. This would be a departure for Samsung, which normally opts to use its own Exynos chips in the regular and Plus variants of its Galaxy S phones in regions such as Europe.
The S24 series only used the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for all models in the US, but that could be set to change for the S25.
Samsung announced in October that it would not be releasing Android 15 for any of its phones until the release of the “new Galaxy” next year. This is unusual, as the firm normally updates its current Galaxy S series with the newest version of Android as soon as possible, but it seems this time around we’ll have to wait for new phones for the new One UI 7 update.
This does make some sense. Introducing an updated look and feel to Android when trying to sell the Galaxy S25 series could entice buyers, and also makes sense from a marketing perspective. We can then expect older existing Galaxy smartphones to get the Android 15 update sometime after the S25’s rumoured January launch.
