Samsung's Galaxy AI was the star of today's show, as we expected. There weren't any Bixby surprises, and previews were slim pickings, but Samsung promises the Galaxy S25 will usher in a new AI future. Just as soon as it collects all of your data, first.
If you want to watch the event yourself, you can check out a rerun using our guide on how to watch Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2025. If you want a step-by-step breakdown of all the news as it happened, our unedited live blog written during today's Galaxy Unpacked event is below.
I'm your US phones and tablets chief, here to guide you through the Samsung-speak of Unpacked and reveal all the hidden messages behind the specs and feeds. I've used every single Galaxy phone and I've reviewed all the best phones you can buy, including the Galaxy S24 Ultra and Galaxy S24, and I've attended more than a dozen Samsung Unpacked launch events.
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(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
We're 30 minutes from Galaxy Unpacked and your TechRadar editors are live on the scene at the SAP Center in San Jose, CA! Our Editor-at-Large Lance Ulanoff is covering the news as it happens, then going hands-on with all the new devices, while our video guru Viktoria Shillets captures live footage for all of our TechRadar channels. We'll keep this Live Blog going throughout the show, so stay tuned to this channel.
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
Ok Galaxy fans, today is your day. If you've been following the leaks and rumors about the upcoming Galaxy S25 family so far, you haven't seen a whole lot that's new. We're expecting a new look for the Galaxy S25 Ultra that brings it closer to the other Galaxy S25 family, with rounded corners and a smooth back, but we haven't seen many other new hardware features. Is Samsung hiding all the good stuff inside?
Undoubtedly, as Samsung will definitely be using a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, and it will probably be overclocked just for Samsung with a for Galaxy badge attached. That means the Galaxy S25 could the fastest phone ever, even faster than the iPhone 16 Pro. What will Samsung do with so much power? That's what we're waiting to find out.
Viktoria and Lance at Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked in San Jose, CA (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
One of the biggest questions we have remaining today surrounds the mysterious, so-called Samsung Galaxy S25 Slim. Apple has been rumored to be working on a slimmer version of its iPhone, now presumably called the iPhone Air. Samsung could also be leading the charge with a slimmer Galaxy S25 today, a Galaxy S25 Slim.
Last minute rumors suggest that the slimmer Galaxy S phone may not appear today, but could show up later in the year, around May. The Galaxy S25 Slim may not come to the US, either, presumably because we don't like things that are Slim here? Who knows.
We'll keep a look out for any executives carrying incredibly slim Galaxy phones, but until we know for sure, keep following for the latest news and rumors.
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Samsung isn't just throwing a party in San Jose, today. Our reporters in the UK are also on the scene for a special hands-on opportunity with Samsung and the new phones. Clearly the 10am Samsung crowd in California is different from the 6pm Samsung crowd across the pond.
If you weren't sure that today's star would be Galaxy AI, even more than the Galaxy S25, just look at that drink! When the ice cube says AI, believe it.
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Go go go! We are go for Galaxy Unpacked. The Live stream should start any minute, and I'm watching at Samsung.com.
I can also tell you now that I've gotten hands-on time with the entire new Galaxy S25 family, including the Galaxy S25 Plus and Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Samsung's President of the Mobile eXperience group, TM Roh, has taken the stage and immediately announced the Galaxy S25 family. Now Roh has handed off to Google to talk about Gemini and new features coming first to the Galaxy S25.
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Roh is back on stage saying the Galaxy S25 will understand not only your commands, but also your intentions. You can talk the way you talk to your friend, and initiate multiple actions with one button press. Roh says it will anticipate your needs.
No specifics on how it will do all of this, but Roh is moving onto privacy. The Personal Data Engine on the Galaxy S25 will keep all of this personal data secure with Samsung's KNOX security, which is no joke. But what data will it store? We haven't heard specific examples yet.
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Roh is saying today marks a beginning of a new reality. We're going to hear a lot of this sort of talk today. A new beginning, opening a door, starting something big. We're at the start of the new mobile AI phase, not in the middle. Samsung is going to start collecting what it needs to build a more robust Galaxy AI, but it isn't quite here yet.
That's fine, the phone is still going to be a top performer. Hopefully we'll see more about the features available today, instead of just talking about tomorrow.
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Samsung is showing off improvements to features we've seen before, like transcripts on calls, and other improved AI generative text and speech features.
Samsung's Drew Blackard is showing a preview of upcoming Galaxy AI, and we get to see the Now Brief and Now Bar, two new AI driven features that will deliver news and updates about your day.
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The Now Brief will proactively share information tailored to you when it matters most, according to Blackard. It isn't all meetings and business, the Now Bar on the lock screen will give you sports updates. We're not seeing anything brand new, so we'll need to experience all the new software to determine if it's really responding to our daily routine.
To do this, Blackard is describing the Personal Data Engine, a partition in the Galaxy S25 that will privately store a wealth of information about you using knowledge graph technology. It will try to make connections about all of the different data it collects from your phone, your wearables, and even your smart home devices.
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Blackard says the Galaxy S25 will provide tailored AI suggestions, but hasn't given us any concrete examples of what sort of suggestions it will provide.
We're now seeing a new update to the Samsung side bar tool, adding an AI Assist feature. In the past, you could use Drawing Assist to select and cut up parts of your screen, but AI Assist will understand what sort of content you're viewing, and it will offer you a variety of options based on what you see. You might cut up a video for a GIF, or add a date to your calendar, based on what AI Assist sees.
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Samsung is now talking up Circle to Search improvements, because apparently that's one AI feature people are actually using. In fact, Samsung says that Circle to Search fans use it quite extensively, almost every day on average.
Google is also improving its Gemini and Gemini Live features, and we're getting a preview of Gemini from Google's own AI execs.
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Google is talking about new multi-modal context capabilities coming to Gemini Live on the Galaxy S25 first. You'll be able to ask Gemini Live, Google's conversational version of Gemini, to interact with the things you see on screen. Previously, Gemini Live, which again is only the conversational component of the Gemini AI, could only operate in its own app.
These seem like baby steps towards a true AI user interface, but we're getting closer. Google is asking Gemini Live to critique a photo taken of a pet retriever, and of course Live has something to say.
Google is offering 6 months of Gemini Advanced and 2TB of Google Cloud storage to all Galaxy S25 buyers. That's a nice start, I pay for that service on my own and it's worth the price for the storage alone, since you can share that space across all your Google accounts and apps.
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Whoa, a hint about Project Meehan, Samsung's upcoming XR goggles. Samsung is saying that the XR experience will rely upon multi-modal AI, just like the features coming to Gemini Live on the Galaxy S25. We're not seeing anything specific, just a silhouette of the goggles, and apparently this executive is still talking about things that are not XR glasses, but I stopped listening. When are we getting Samsung XR glasses?! Tell us more, now!
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
Here, Samsung presents in one slide all of the cool things that they are not going to show us today. We have a tri-fold phone, a set of XR goggles, and smart glasses that look like Meta Ray-Ban glasses.
Instead they are talking about more AI in the future and keeping data secure and blah blah blah. This isn't very fun. They can talk all they want about keeping data secure, but they haven't explained why I should hand over my data in the first place? What's the benefit? We shall see, eventually.
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Okay, now we're hearing about the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, which we already know is an incredibly powerful mobile platform with great power management skills. It should offer top-notch power and amazing battery life, if the Galaxy S25 performs like other Snapdragon 8 Elite phones I've reviewed and tested.
This should be a gaming powerhouse, and Samsung is showing off tons of in-game footage from a variety of Android games. Our own benchmarks have shown Qualcomm isn't lying about this chipset, it really is a major step forward. If you have an older phone, especially a phone that is a couple years old or more, you're going to see a big difference.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
The Galaxy S25 series comes in luminant shades of blue inspired by AI. Samsung just said that. AI is blue. It isn't just three stars, it's actually the color blue. And that blue is navy, icy, or mint green, if you check out the Galaxy S25 in person.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra is not blue. It is serious titanium colors, because when you pay for a phone like the Ultra you don't want silly blue colors, you want serious metal colors.
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Samsung is talking about the camera, starting with the ProVisual engine inside. That's good, because we already know that the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus have been left behind when it comes to camera technology. The Galaxy S25 Ultra remains a superlative camera phone, but the other Galaxy S25 phones are using sensors and lenses that would have been advanced two or three years ago.
Samsung is demonstrating the new aperture control, but this is a bit misleading, because you have to download a separate Samsung app, Expert RAW, if you want this feature to work. And it isn't really giving you control over the aperture, it's simulating the depth of field using AI.
There are tons of improvements to the photo editing across the board, with more automatic removal tools if you have people who walk into your frame.
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Now is the portion of Galaxy Unpacked where professional film makers with professional lighting and film crews show you the sort of professional footage they can capture using only the Galaxy S25 Ultra and their professional gear.
In fact, the SCUBA videography looks very impressive, and I'll be asking for more details about how this videographer pulled off amazing color underwater.
Samsung is also offering Log video recording on the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which helps professionals set a constant color balance across a range of footage.
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The only major hardware upgrade to the Galaxy S25 cameras is the 50-megapixel sensor on the ultra-wide camera on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The other specs remain completely the same across the entire range. I'm not sure if any of the underlying camera sensors have changed, but the resolution and focal lengths have stayed the same since last year.
There could be plenty more benefits from the improved image processing handled by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, and Samsung's own improved image tooling. I'll have to spend plenty of time with this camera to see if it earns a spot on my list of the best camera phones.
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Moving on from the cameras, Samsung is talking about how the Galaxy S25 will help us improve our health. Samsung Health app will get an update that takes advantage of more AI features and tailors an end-to-end experience, according to Samsung. That will include personalized insights and coaching, usually advice to get more sleep.
Your Galaxy devices will know when you fall asleep, and will check for patterns with your smart home equipment to determine if there is an ideal setting that helps you fall asleep better. It might also turn off your Samsung TV.
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Samsung is launching a number of new Samsung Health coaching and tracking features, including mindfulness features that will ask you about your mood. Frankly, it doesn't seem as intrusive as Apple's Journal app, which pesters me daily to write about mundane trips to the grocery store.
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Drew Blackard is coming back, and he's important, so hopefully we'll hear more important news, not just Samsung app examples.
We're hearing about how the phone will connect with other Samsung devices around your home. I hope this doesn't require a brand new TV set, in addition to the latest Galaxy S phone. Also, we've only heard about gathering information about your home, and turning off the TV.
Samsung will now let you monitor your pets and help them watch more TV. You'll be able to connect with a vet in the US through Dr.Tail, an online vet service, using your Samsung phone.
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Blackard just said 'Bixby,' so I think I got BINGO! This might be the first time we've heard Samsung use the name of its AI agent on device, while Google has spent plenty of Unpacked talking about Google Gemini advances.
Bixby is the AI that controls your phone, and possibly other Samsung smart devices. We haven't heard too much about the way Bixby has matured with AI, but hopefully we'll learn more.
Wait, there's ONE MORE THING! The Galaxy S25 EDGE!!!
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
What is this?! We see some internal components, and a brief silhouette from the side, and then the screen goes dark. Thankfully our diligent screenshot people caught that one. I think we'll learn more about this in a few months.
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That's the end of Unpacked, and we have all the news you need. The phones are all available for pre-order now, except for the surprise Galaxy S25 Edge that Samsung teased at the very end.
Galaxy S25 for $799 / £799 / AU $1,399
Galaxy S25 Plus for $999 / £999 / AU $1,699
Galaxy S25 Ultra for $1,299 / £1,249 / AU $2,149
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
Our editors are already getting up close with the latest Samsung devices, but the attention is being stolen by two surprise guests in the photo room: Project Moohan and the Galaxy S25 Edge!
We weren't expecting to see much of Samsung's upcoming new products, since neither had been officially announced before the last 30 seconds of Unpacked, but here we are, with real... err, mock-ups in front of us. These aren't final products, but they should give us an idea of what Samsung is cooking up for later this year.
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Our Editor-at-Large Lance Ulanoff has gotten close to the Galaxy S25 Edge, the phone that is stealing today's Galaxy Unpacked 2025 show, and his reaction:
We saw it. It’s soooper thin
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(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
In addition to the Galaxy S25 Edge, our editors on the scene have also gotten closer to Samsung's upcoming XR glasses, a partnership with Google codenamed Project Moohan. We're seeing a prototype, not final hardware, and it looks a bit more like Apple's Vision Pro than the Meta Quest 3.
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Today's Galaxy Unpacked event was all about Galaxy AI, not surprisingly, and our own tech personality Hamish Hector of great TikTok fame had a chance to get hands-on with the new Galaxy AI features before today's event.
If you've been following this Live Blog you probably haven't missed anything, but just in case, we've rounded up the top things we learned today from Samsung and all of its partners at Unpacked. That includes the new phones, Galaxy AI, and all of the hints and previews dropped about upcoming devices.
