2025 Winners and losers: Samsung

2025 Smartphone Review: Samsung's Victories and Stumbles

As 2025 draws to a close, Samsung stands at a crossroads, celebrating significant market triumphs while grappling with strategic missteps. The latest Galaxy S25 series has dominated sales charts, and the company's foldable offerings continue to capture consumer imagination. Yet, beneath the surface of success, not all is as it seems. While the S25 lineup offered incremental improvements, the experimental S25 Edge faltered, and even the celebrated foldables, while popular, hint at areas ripe for refinement.

Samsung's Top Performers: The S25 Ultra and Vanilla S25

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra has emerged as a clear frontrunner, setting a new pre-order record for the Galaxy S series in South Korea with 1.3 million units. This dominance continued post-launch, with the Ultra model accounting for over half of the S25 series' total sales. By mid-year, the S25 series had already surpassed the S24 series in sales volume, with the S25 Ultra showing a notable 7.1% increase over its predecessor. Despite minor camera updates and a less feature-rich S Pen, the S25 Ultra proved to be the most sought-after Ultra model to date, continuing a trend of escalating sales across generations.

The standard Samsung Galaxy S25 also proved to be a significant winner, demonstrating the most substantial year-over-year improvement in sales, outperforming the S24 by 11.6%. While not reaching the heights of the Ultra, it decisively outsold the Plus model, achieving a remarkable 58% lead in sales by the end of June. Key upgrades, such as the transition to 12GB RAM and the adoption of the powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset across the entire S25 lineup, likely contributed to its strong performance, offering a smoother user experience compared to previous generations.

The Underperformers: S25+ and S25 Edge

The Samsung Galaxy S25+ occupies a more ambiguous space. While not a complete failure, its middling sales figures prevent it from being classified as a winner. It appears to have served as a transitional device, with rumors suggesting Samsung's original intention was to replace the Plus model with the Edge in subsequent years. However, with the reported cancellation of the S26 Edge, the S25+ may yet see a successor, though expectations for its future popularity remain tempered.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge stands as a definitive loser for 2025. Reports of exceptionally poor sales strongly suggest this experimental, ultra-slim form factor was not well-received by the market. This mirrors trends seen elsewhere, such as the struggles of ultra-slim phones from other manufacturers, indicating a broader consumer preference away from such designs. While Samsung's execution might have had its flaws, the core concept of the super-slim smartphone appears to have reached a dead end for the foreseeable future.

Foldable Fortunes: Z Fold7 and Z Flip7 Shine

Samsung's foldable division experienced a banner year, with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 leading the charge. Global foldable shipments saw a significant 14% increase in Q3 2025, with Samsung dominating the market share at 64%. The Z Fold7, in particular, impressed with its refined design, achieving a thickness comparable to standard bar phones, making it a more appealing alternative for users considering a switch from traditional smartphones. A substantial portion of Z Fold7 buyers reportedly upgraded from S Ultra models, signaling a genuine shift in consumer preference. The Z Flip7 also garnered new users from competing brands, reinforcing the success of Samsung's foldable strategy.

Innovation on Display: The Galaxy Z TriFold

While not destined for mass-market appeal, the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold represents a bold step forward in innovation. Manufactured in limited quantities, this device showcased Samsung's willingness to push boundaries and explore new form factors. The TriFold's launch injected a sense of excitement and demonstrated that Samsung remains a key player in driving the future of smartphone technology, even if its commercial success is secondary to its technological statement.

Chipset Struggles and FE Disappointments

The Exynos chipset faced significant challenges in 2025. The Exynos 2500 found its way into only one device, the Galaxy Z Flip7, with its delayed launch impacting its inclusion in the flagship S25 series. Furthermore, other new models like the Galaxy S25 FE and Z Flip7 FE opted for the older Exynos 2400. While Samsung's mid-range Exynos chips performed adequately in Galaxy A series phones, their flagship offerings have struggled to compete, impacting consumer perception and adoption.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 FE proved to be a lackluster update. The minor chipset upgrade from an Exynos 2400e to an Exynos 2400 offered little discernible performance improvement. While the new 45W charging was a welcome addition, it didn't significantly alter the overall charging experience. A price increase positioned the S25 FE uncomfortably close to the S25+, making it a difficult purchase decision. This contrasts with the positive reception of its predecessor, the S24 FE.

Similarly, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 FE failed to gain traction. Its outdated design and the use of the older Exynos 2400 chipset, coupled with only 8GB of RAM, rendered it unappealing. While the concept of an affordable foldable remains desirable, the Z Flip7 FE did not deliver on that promise, proving to be a commercial disappointment.

Mid-Range Successes and Wearable Woes

On the more affordable end, the Samsung Galaxy A56 and Galaxy A36 emerged as key growth drivers for the company. Samsung's strategic decision to launch the A56 in the US market, bridging a gap between the A3x series and the S FE models, was a positive move, despite a delayed availability. These devices have garnered significant consumer interest, contributing to Samsung's overall market performance, even with minor issues like bootloop problems impacting some units.

Samsung's wearable division encountered significant headwinds in 2025. The absence of a new Galaxy Watch Ultra, with the 2024 model merely re-released with increased storage, was a notable omission. The new squircle design adopted for the Galaxy Watch8 and Galaxy Watch8 Classic was met with considerable backlash from users. Furthermore, the Classic model featured a smaller display size compared to its predecessor, despite the larger casing, raising concerns about design choices and user experience in the smartwatch market.

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