Samsung’s track record is packed with moments that made us go, “Wow!” Be it exceptional sAMOLED displays that changed the game or futuristic foldables. But lately, it feels like the spark has dimmed a bit as Samsung smartphones focus more on cameras.

Recently, Samsung and others have been excessively focusing on bigger cameras rather than bringing an overall upgrade to their smartphones. With every new smartphone launch, makers put a dedicated slot to discuss the camera.

Silicon-carbon batteries, real fast charging, and durable build are right there for the taking. Samsung’s history of bringing groundbreaking tech is unmatched, but the past few years feel like it’s losing that edge.

Let’s dig into why cameras are stealing the spotlight!

Bigger cameras

No doubt that the camera quality is a priority for phone makers, and Samsung is no exception. Users love capturing high-quality photos and recording videos, and smartphone makers have responded to this demand hard.

The latest S25 Ultra comes with a 200MP ISOCELL HP2 camera and supports 100x Space Zoom. Way back in 2016, Samsung’s Galaxy S7 wowed us with dual-pixel tech, derived from DSLR, which offers stunning low-light shots.

These upgrades are shiny, easy to show off in ads, and something you notice right away. No wonder Samsung and others keep doubling down on them. However, the recent two flagships relied heavily on AI for all-segmental marketing.

Source – Samsung Mobile Press

While cameras get all the attention, other aspects like durability, battery, and charging speed are left with incremental tweaks. It’s frustrating to see Samsung narrow its focus when it could be revolutionizing the entire device.

Durability, design, and display

I want a phone that can survive drops and wear without needing a bulky case. I know Samsung has the engineering solutions to make it happen across the board, but it isn’t in hand, as of now.

The Galaxy Z Fold6’s sleeker look, sharper corners, and a larger external screen are steps forward, but Samsung’s flagships like the Galaxy S25 series feel stuck in a track, with minimal “real” changes from the Galaxy S24 series.

The Galaxy S25’s display is brighter and smoother, but it’s not a game-changer. Samsung is reserving the full screen and UPC tech we’ve been dreaming of. The company could literally lead here, but it feels like it’s coasting.

Battery, charging

Battery life remains the biggest pain point in mobile devices, yet upgrades are slow. The S25 Ultra’s 5000mAh battery is decent, but it’s not a leap forward, with Samsung retaining the same capacity from the last five Galaxy S generations.

I want Samsung to push the envelope with next-generation technology like new silicon-carbon batteries, which promise higher energy density, or all-solid-state batteries, which could last longer and charge faster than legacy solutions.

Silicon-carbon is being tested, but there’s no clear timeline for the S26 or later. All-solid-state batteries are still prototypes, held back by manufacturing hurdles. These could be Samsung’s chance to amaze us again, but it’s not moving fast enough.

Source – Samsung

Samsung’s also lazy in terms of Galaxy charging speed, both wired and wireless. The competition in smartphone battery and charging has ramped up significantly, but Galaxy devices miss out on the opportunity to lead the market.

Galaxy S25 Ultra is Samsung’s most premium flagship phone, which supports just 45W wired charging. This year’s flagships brought a meaningful Qi2 charging upgrade, but they require compatible cases to support the phones.

AI Overload

Samsung’s growing obsession with AI, like Bixby and the Galaxy AI, feels like a misstep. It’s 2025, and Bixby never matched Google Assistant’s usefulness. Galaxy AI is at Samsung’s forefront for marketing, but that too requires modern hardware.

A portion of Samsung smartphone users don’t want excessive AI gimmicks. They want a smartphone that is great out of the box, like Samsung used to deliver. The backlash is real, and it’s because fans like me know they can do better.

Samsung’s cameras are still top-tier, no doubt about it. As someone who’s rooted for their big swings in the past, I’m bummed that toughness, battery life, charging speed, and clever features aren’t getting the same love.

It’s time for Samsung to ease up on cameras and AI and go all-out on the whole phone.

Samsung has partnered with the Van Gogh Museum to unveil an audio tour. You can see people using the phones to check out Van Gogh’s artwork in the pics, but something feels a bit odd – the Galaxy S25 Plus lacks a selfie camera.

Since Samsung unveiled these Galaxy S25 Plus images, speculations spread online that this model could have ditched the selfie camera. The appearance also indicates that the phone is held upside down, as the port can be observed.

Well, even if the phone is held upside down, the camera cutout on display isn’t visible on the opposite side either. It indicates that either Samsung is selling the S25 to its partner without a selfie camera, or it boasts UDC technology.

Samsung hasn’t said anything about tweaking the S25+ design for this project. Galaxy phones usually have a small camera hole on the display. Maybe the museum’s variant is lacking a selfie snapper to unlock a full-view display, but that leaves us wondering.

Galaxy S25 Plus might have used under-panel camera tech, just like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold3 and later models do on the inner panel. That’s a neat idea, but the company hasn’t confirmed it, so it’s all just guesswork for now.

Image – Samsung Galaxy S25+ Van Gogh Museum Edition

The special edition phone’s board may still have a front camera, but the client may have asked Samsung to make it hidden by applying a display without a punch hole. Through software, the front camera accessibility may have been barred.

The focus of this Van Gogh Museum collab seems to be on the S25+’s awesome display and sound, not the camera. That makes me think the camera’s probably there but hidden; still, without clear info, people keep chatting about it.

One UI 7 has brought UI upgrades to Samsung smartphones, including the new battery icon in the task bar, but a downside of this essential feature has turned it into a mistake that should be fixed, if the phone maker wants to improve the user experience.

In the previous generation of software, the vertical battery icon used to be inline with other icons, such as network and Wi-Fi. However, the new icon describes Samsung’s approach to a personalized user experience.

One UI 7.0 turned this icon horizontal with a pill shape. The developers also integrated interactive elements, including charging, lower power, maintenance, and other indicators for a dynamic appearance. Furthermore, Samsung has introduced new charging animations, sliding out of the battery icon.

Therefore, the battery segment has received a lot of improvements to make the task bar interactive than previous One UI versions. However, there’s a price behind these upgrades, and it has degraded the icon’s appearance.

Incorrect dimensions

This is the key reason the battery icon is not getting along with its siblings in the taskbar. It aims to be a rectangle with round corners, but the high radius is leaving no internal padding for the text.

Thus, the entire icon feels round instead of a pill shape, and loses balance between the text and the background shape. More to be said, its overall size doesn’t align with network and Wi-Fi, which creates a design inconsistency.

This wasn’t the case in the first place because the initial Galaxy S25 firmware had a more polished version of the battery icon. Below, you can check the One UI 7.0 battery icon comparison between the March and April 2025 software updates for the Galaxy S25 Ultra. I’ve put some guidelines to show you a before and after of the changes.

Samsung Battery icon dimension before and after the April 2025 update

We’ve also compared the triple and double-digit percentages and found that the icon is reducing in width when the power level decreases below 100. It not only shrinks the width but also enlarges the text and rounds up the entire UI. To be mentioned, we’ve not seen anything like this in the pre-April 2025 software update.

The prior version seems balanced, including improved internal space, maintained text size, but is still out of shape. Whatsoever, that still looks better than the larger variant.

After the April 2025 update (left), before (right)

The size change appears after enabling the percentage, and it may not be seen if you aren’t fond of seeing power level in numeric keywords inside the icon.

Conclusion

Samsung developers tweaked this part of the UI at least three times during One UI 7.0 beta testing. Unfortunately, it seems the company has not reached a conclusion on this matter.

Meanwhile, Samsung still has time to fix this UI mistake and ship it with the upcoming stable One UI 8.0 version.

Also read – Samsung had a tough time shaping the new battery icon for One UI 7.0

Samsung Galaxy S25+ is a versatile smartphone with style and power in a compact form, and this phone has now become a guide for Van Gogh museum visitors in Amsterdam.

The phone maker has signed a three-year partnership with the Van Gogh Museum to improve visitors’ experience with new technologies. This collaboration allows the museum to offer the Galaxy S25+ to visitors to know more about the artworks without a human guide.

Van Gogh Museum has the world’s largest collection of artworks created by Vincent van Gogh, a famous painter and one of the most influential figures in the history of Western art. The museum has more than 200 paintings, around 500 drawings, and over 700 letters.

This collection attracts millions of people from around the globe to check out Van Gogh’s amazing art. According to the museum’s annual report, in 2023, nearly 1.7 million visitors entered the museum, which was observed around 1.9 million in 2024.

In June 2025, Van Gogh Museum introduced a new audio tour featuring 1,600 Galaxy S25+ smartphones. This unique tour tells stories about the museum’s art heritage while replacing the old hardware with a lightweight, more advanced software interface and an accessible user experience.

Samsung and the Van Gogh museum plan to upgrade this audio tour with Galaxy AI features for a more personalized visitor experience but specifics are currently unknown.

Additionally, Samsung will launch Van Gogh museum-branded cases for Galaxy smartphones. The cases will have designs inspired by famous paintings such as Sunflowers and Van Gogh’s self-portrait.

Van Gogh Museum cases for Samsung Galaxy smartphones

These accessories will be available via Samsung stores and its online store in the Netherlands, as well as Van Gogh Museum’s store and its online store. The pricing and availability will be announced soon.

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It’s June 2025, and Samsung is currently working to expand the One UI 8 Beta update to more Galaxy models. Alongside One UI 8 Beta, Samsung is also rolling out the June 2025 security patch to Galaxy devices. Here you can check the list of Samsung Galaxy devices that have received the June 2025 security update.

Samsung started the June 2025 security patch rollout with the Galaxy A56 smartphone. The company then expanded this update to more Galaxy devices, including the latest Galaxy S25 series models.

June 2025 security patch includes 36 high-level Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) provided by Google, which target the Android operating system. Samsung has also added 19 SVE (Samsung Vulnerabilities and Exposures) items in this update, addressing issues related to Screen Capture, Fingerprint, Bluetooth, Theme Manager, Samsung Cloud, and more.

Samsung is actively working to bring the June 2025 security update to even more Galaxy models. Below, you can check whether your device has received the update or not.

Samsung June 2025 Update Galaxy Devices List

Galaxy S series

• Galaxy S25
• Galaxy S25 Plus
• Galaxy S25 Ultra
• Galaxy S25 Edge
• Galaxy S24
• Galaxy S24 Plus
• Galaxy S24 Ultra

Galaxy Z series

• Galaxy Z Flip 6
• Galaxy Z Fold 6

Galaxy A series

• Galaxy A56 5G
• Galaxy A36 5G

How to check and install an update?

Users are advised to install the update promptly to benefit from the improved security measures. For those who have not received an update notification, the update can be manually checked and installed.

To install the update, open the smartphone’s settings, select ‘Software Update’, and then ‘Download and install’. Following these steps will ensure that your Galaxy smartphone is up-to-date with the latest security protections.

*More devices will be added to this list as Samsung releases the update for them.

Samsung June 2025 Update Plan: Monthly, Quarterly, and Biannual models revealed