Founded in 1938, Samsung is the largest chaebol in South Korea. The myriad of companies under its brand are some of the biggest in their respective industries, but Samsung Electronics is the most notable. It makes some of the most popular phones in use today, and its flagship portfolio includes the Galaxy S-series and foldable Z-series devices. It also makes televisions, tablets, computers, headphones, and many of the displays, chips, and batteries found in devices from Apple, Sony, and others.
But it’s still a big phone.
Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S25, S25 Plus and S25 Ultra, and new AI features. It also teased the Galaxy S25 Edge, its rumored ‘slim’ phone.
And no, they’re not exactly surprising. But even so, a Galaxy Store listing for “Samsung Internet Browser for Fold7 and Flip7,” spotted by GalaxyClub, does give the game away a little, especially since we’re not expecting the new phones to launch for at least a month.
Of course, that doesn’t preclude extra versions, like the Fold Ultra Samsung teased just this week, or its rumored cheaper Flip FE.
Samsung is hinting strongly at an Ultra-branded foldable coming soon with this new press release referencing a foldable with a “powerful camera,” which is traditionally a weakness of folding phones. The attached image is also named “Galaxy Z Fold 7 Z Flip 7 Pre tease,” so there’s that too.
Between this Ultra model and a rumored FE version of the Z Flip, we might have a whole bunch of new folding phones on our hands later this summer.
Samsung is planning a big investment in Perplexity that could bring the AI search engine’s app and assistant to Samsung’s upcoming devices and its web browser, according to a report from Bloomberg.
If this rumor pans out, Samsung would join Motorola in offering users the option to set Perplexity as their default assistant instead of Google Gemini.
The Samsung Wallet feature lets you use NFC to send money from a debit card to other phones and cards. Samsung announced it earlier this month.
When asked about his latest tariff threat toward Apple, President Donald Trump said the 25 percent tax would affect Samsung and other phone makers, too. “It would be also Samsung and anybody that makes that product, otherwise it wouldn’t be fair,” Trump said during a White House briefing.
Last week, Trump warned Apple CEO Tim Cook that he’s “not interested in you building in India,” and instead wants to bring iPhone production to the US — a move many experts have said won’t work.
The big Wear OS 6 news is that Gemini is headed to the wrist. It’s unsurprising to see Samsung’s smartwatches will get it first. After all, new Galaxy Watches have launched before new Pixel Watches ever since Google and Samsung teamed up to create Wear OS 3. The good news is you won’t necessarily have to upgrade. Google told me that Gemini will be coming to any Wear OS watch that currently supports Assistant.
[news.samsung.com]
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Rival LG said it first, now Samsung says it might relocate manufacturing of its Visual Display and Digital Appliance business units. ”[We] plan to minimize the impact of tariffs by ... relocating production of some volumes for VD and DA businesses, using our global manufacturing bases, if necessary,” said CFO Park Soon-cheol.
According to Nikkei, most of the TVs Samsung sells in the US are made in Mexico, though it also has a production unit in California. The company makes home appliances like refrigerators, washers, and driers in South Carolina and Mexico.
[asia.nikkei.com]
Despite rumors that Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro smartphones would feature an anti-glare display similar to the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra / S25 Ultra, MacRumors is now pouring cold water on the possibility. Juli Clover reports that Apple has faced difficulties “scaling up the display coating process.” As a result, we’re not going to see this option for the iPhones 17 Pro.
With flagship phones all offering vibrant, bright screens nowadays, it would’ve been a nice differentiator.
The upcoming thin phone was included on a list of models eligible for a discount on Samsung Canada’s French site according to WinFuture journalist Roland Quandt. The CAD$1,678.99 price sits right in between the S25 Plus and S25 Ultra, which suggests it’ll cost $1,100-1,200 in the US.
Now, people who own a 2025 Neo QLED 8K, 4K, or QLED TV can choose from hundreds of pieces of artwork to display when they’re not watching shows or movies. The Art Store originally launched with Samsung’s Frame TV in 2017, and costs $4.99 per month or $49.90 per year to access.
That’s what the company told Ars Technica when asked about the current pause to the much-delayed update, which brings Android 15 to the Galaxy S24 series and other devices from 2024 and earlier. It was halted following reports of a bug that stopped people unlocking their phones. There’s no word on when the company will resume the rollout.
“The One UI 7 rollout schedule is being updated to ensure the best possible experience. The new timing and availability will be shared shortly.”
[arstechnica.com]
0Samsung’s Android 15 update is landing on phones in the US today, a mere seven months after Google released the OS update to developers, though it’s been available on the S25 phones since they launched in February.
Only Galaxy S24 models, along with the Fold 6 and Flip 6 foldables, are due to get the update today, though it will roll out to more Galaxy phones and tablets in the future.
Retailers already spilled the numbers late last month, but Samsung has now officially launched preorders for its Odyssey 3D ($1,999.99), OLED G81SF ($1,299.99), and Odyssey G91F ($999.99). I’m already looking forward to reviews of the G81SF. A 27-inch 4K 240Hz OLED with Samsung’s Glare Free display treatment sounds awfully nice.
Customers who preorder a monitor will receive “up to” $300 in Samsung credit.
The company’s early data suggests a “much smaller-than-feared 0.2 percent fall in first-quarter operating profit,” according to Reuters, likely driven by the stockpiling of memory chips by manufacturers ahead of Trump’s tariffs, with a related uptick in Galaxy S25 sales driven by panicked buyers in the US. Regardless, the quarter ahead looks grim so a reversal of Samsung’s dilemma is unlikely.
Owners of older Samsung TVs, even 2024 flagships, will have to wait to experience Netflix in HDR10 Plus for improved tone and brightness levels. According to Samsung:
HDR10+ content on Netflix will be accessible on 2025 Samsung Neo QLED, OLED and Lifestyle TVs — as well as 2025 and 2024 monitor models — with support for additional models in the future.
Hopefully “the future” isn’t too far away.
