By focusing on AI instead of hardware, there's no real reason to upgrade to the S25 series
Samsung announced the S25 series today at Unpacked, with a big focus on AI functionality and minimal hardware improvements. That makes upgrading less worthwhile.
Ever since Apple announced the iPhone 3G – the first real global iPhone – annual phone releases have delivered a combination of hardware and software improvements.
Admittedly the two don't always happen at the same time. Apple announces its iOS updates at the World Wide Developers Conference, and Google unveils its Android updates on its own schedule.
But consumers understand that when they update their phone to a new model, they will get not only better, faster hardware, but also better software. And often, they can only get the improved software by updating the hardware.
The Galaxy S25 launch today feels like Samsung has run out of ideas on the hardware side of things. At the briefing for the new phones in Sydney, the dominant focus was on Galaxy AI, One UI 7 and the development of more personalised AI.
