\n<\/p>\n
I take no pleasure in saying this, but if the rumors about the Galaxy S25 series<\/a> are true, then these phones look boring as hell. That would be fine<\/em>, except that Samsung is asking us all to get very excited about them by hosting a big, loud launch event<\/a>. And I think it\u2019s time for Samsung \u2014 and honestly, the industry as a whole \u2014 to look in the mirror and ask: do we really need this?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I\u2019m not saying Samsung or any other tech company should throw a bunch of spaghetti at the wall and cram some questionably useful stuff into their phones just for the sake of it. That helps nobody. It\u2019s just that getting up onstage and declaring that these<\/em> phones are fundamentally different and new should be a truly special occasion. And that used to be true! But now, it\u2019s just a thing we do every year that feels a lot like the thing we did last year. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n In this particular season of mobile innovation, hardware just isn\u2019t as important as it once was. Take the iPhone 16; the launch event centered so much on software features that Apple called it \u201cGlowed Up.\u201d But when the phones shipped, those software features weren\u2019t ready, and all we really had was a single new button. Did we need all that fanfare?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Google\u2019s on a slightly different trajectory since it completely overhauled its Pixel phone series<\/a> a few years ago. It\u2019s still figuring out how to make a chipset that doesn\u2019t turn your phone into a hand warmer<\/a> if you do too many things or how exactly to make the camera bump go sideways. It feels like a lot of that has been settled in the Pixel 9 series<\/a>, but even that launch event was largely about software features and the many ways that Gemini now inhabits its phones. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Hardware just isn\u2019t as important as it once was<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Samsung is far from alone here, but I think it\u2019s fair to say that the Galaxy series is in a particularly stagnant phase. The S-series phones have basically looked and behaved the same for the past<\/a> few<\/a> years<\/a>, and all signs point to incredibly minor updates for the S25 series. Even the company\u2019s folding phones have changed very little over the past couple of years. Apple didn\u2019t give us much with the iPhone 16, but at least<\/em> there was that new button.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n There\u2019s one hopeful glimmer on the horizon: slim phones. Rumors indicate that Samsung might show one off at Unpacked<\/a>, and it seems like Apple might be gearing up to launch a slim iPhone 17<\/a> later this year. Is a phone that\u2019s a couple of millimeters thinner anything? I don\u2019t know, but it would look and feel fundamentally different than last year\u2019s phone, which is more than I can say about many of the phones I tested in 2024. Samsung\u2019s slim phone might not arrive until May, so it looks like we\u2019d get a teaser tomorrow at best.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n So here\u2019s what I think: let\u2019s bring back S years. Remember the S year iPhones<\/a>? When Apple offered minor spec bumps but called it an iPhone 6S instead of an iPhone 6? Let\u2019s do that again! Let\u2019s have the big, flashy announcements, but not every year. Let\u2019s save them for the big moments when the tech is ready and it looks or behaves fundamentally differently. Give us a reason to get excited, because the same old fanfare is getting a little stale.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n