A look back at this week’s news and headlines from the Android world, including Galaxy S25 Special Edition details, the lost future of foldables, Dimensity 8400 specs, the best mobile games of 2024, and the outlook for 2025.
Android Circuit is here to remind you of some of the many discussions surrounding Android during Christmas week. You can also read my weekly Apple news roundup here on Forbes.
Customers experience Samsung’s new foldable mobile phone, the Galaxy Z Flip, at a Samsung store in … [+]
Galaxy S25 Special Edition Leaks
Samsung is expected to hold another Galaxy Unpacked event in mid to late January 2025 to launch the Galaxy S25 family of handsets alongside the next generation Galaxy AI. A fourth handset could appear, but not until later in the year; this would be the slim form factor of the special edition. Similar to the slim special edition Galaxy ZFold 6, this is expected to be a popular handset thanks to a limited production run on offer:
“New details about Samsung’s plans for the production of the Galaxy S25 Special Edition were reported this weekend by the ETNews team. While the series of three million units will be seven times larger than the 400 000 units of the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition is barely ten percent of the expected sales of the Galaxy S25 family, or 35 million.
(Forbes).
A collapsible imperfect future
Speaking of the Galaxy Z Fold6, Samsung was optimistic about foldable device adoption rates when it launched its foldable lineup in 2020, announcing that 50% of its flagship devices would be foldable by 2025. That figure is still out of reach for Samsung and the industry as a whole. The breakdown of flagship products is largely in favor of Candybar phones:
“Even though overall shipments are expected to reach nearly 18 million units in 2024, these phones still represent less than 2% of the total smartphone market.
(Sammobile).
The regular central moment of Dimensity
There’s new competition in town, at least in the market. Mediatek launches the Dimensity 8400 processor, providing a challenge to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chipsets. Notably, Mediatek has moved away from efficiency cores, relying instead on 8 regular cores:
“[MediaTek’s results] claims a 41% increase in multi-core performance compared to the Dimensity 8300. The company also claims that peak power consumption has been reduced by up to 44%. We’re excited to see what this means for daily power consumption, though. »
What to play?
As the end of the calendar year approaches, the charts and retrospectives are pouring in. As another holiday weekend approaches, Minireview’s list of the best mobile games of the year should help pass the time!
“On MiniReview, we reviewed more than 350 games this year. And today, it’s time to rank the 68 most interesting Android and iOS games of 2024. From Balatro to Hades Mobile, Zenless Zone Zero, Slice & Dice and Halls of Torment, this 2024 mobile game tier list includes something for everyone, regardless of tastes and genre preferences.
(Mini-review).
And finally…
By 2025, what smartphone trends will emerge and which will be widely adopted? Hadlee Simons looks into her crystal ball and battery life is one of the big winners”
“Perhaps the biggest reason is the wider adoption of silicon batteries, offering more capacity for the same physical size as lithium batteries. Everyone from HONOR and Xiaomi to OPPO and OnePlus are stepping up their efforts to In this regard, the vivo X200 Pro Mini has a more compact 6.39-inch screen coupled with a large 5,700 mAh battery.
Android Circuit brings together news from the Android world every weekend here on Forbes. Don’t forget to follow me so you don’t miss any coverage in the future, and of course, read the sister column in Apple Loop! Last week’s Android Circuit can be found here, and if you have any news and links you’d like to see featured in Android Circuit, get in touch!
