I’m unsure where the shockwaves came from yesterday’s Samsung Galaxy Unpacked. But the crowd went wild when Samsung announced it was making the Galaxy S25 Edge in the last few seconds of the event, even though there’s nothing concrete to woo us over yet. The phone that Samsung showed off in the demonstration area after the keynote was merely a couple of shiny slabs hanging on hooks to show its relative thinness to its sister devices.
The Galaxy S25 Edge started as the Galaxy S25 Slim in the rumor mill. Late last year, we heard reports that Samsung would shake up its product lineup, similar to what Bloomberg reported was in store for the upcoming iPhone 17. Then, Android Authority learned from a South African Samsung representative that a slim model would be part of this generation’s Galaxy lineup.
Another look at how Samsung displayed the Galaxy S25 Edge at Galaxy Unpacked.
Now that we know it exists in some capacity, this will probably be the year we reach peak phone thinness. But that’s all it is: a thin slice of metal and glass glued together over a logic board housing all the components and things. Places like GSMArena already have specifications for the Galaxy S25 Edge, claiming it will have the same camera system as the Galaxy S25 Ultra, sans the extra macro lenses, and an IP68 rating for dust and water. This is your reminder that we know nothing about anything from Samsung until the company officially reveals it.
Samsung used its keynote to get ahead of everyone else with its smart ring, the Galaxy Ring. This year, rather than focusing on teasing the Android XR-based Project Moohan, it’s betting on its longtime fans to show up for the brand. The “edge” moniker is a throwback to when Samsung introduced the Galaxy Note Edge eleven years ago. It had a slope in the display on one side, which served as a little action area for notifications. I didn’t like it when I reviewed the device for the outlet I was at, but Gizmodo did.
This whole thing feels like a marketing stunt based on the latest rumors about the iPhone 17 Air, or whatever it will be called. A slimmer phone for Samsung would help the company make another giant, sweeping marketing statement about where it outpaces the iPhone, which seems to be the objective for the year concerning the phone wars. This whole stunt screams to me that Samsung is bothered it’s about to get knocked out of first place for global smartphone shipments by Apple—again.