Android Circuit: Galaxy S25 Special Edition Details, The Future Of Foldables, 2024’s Best Mobile Games

Taking a look back at this week’s news and headlines across the Android world, including Galaxy S25 Special Edition details, the lost future of foldables, the Dimensity 8400 specs, 2024’s top mobile games, and looking forward into 2025.

Android Circuit is here to remind you of a few of the many discussions around Android over the Christmas week. You can also read my weekly digest of Apple news here on Forbes.

Galaxy S25 Special Edition Leaks

Samsung is widely expected to host another Galaxy Unpacked event in mid- to late-January 2025 to launch the Galaxy S25 family of handsets alongside the next generation of Galaxy AI. A fourth handset may appear, but not until later in the year; this would be the thin form-factor of the Special Edition. Similar to the thin special edition of the Galaxy ZFold 6, it should be a highly prized handset thanks to a proposed limited production run:

“New details on Samsung’s plans for the Galaxy S25 Special Edition production run were reported this weekend by the team at ETNews. While the run of three million units will be seven times larger than the 400,000 units of the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition, it is barely ten percent of the Galaxy S25 family’s expected sales of 35 million.”

(Forbes).

Foldables Imperfect Future

Speaking of the Galaxy Z Fold6, Samsung was bullish on the adoption rates of foldables when it launched its foldables range in 2020, announcing that 50% of its flagship devices would be foldables by 2025. That number is still out of reach for Samsung and the industry as a whole. The flagship product split is heavily in favor of candybar phones:

“While overall shipments are expected to hit nearly 18 million units in 2024, these phones still account for less than 2% of the total smartphone market. There’s evidently been no rush from customers to switch over.”

(Sammobile).

Dimensity’s Regular Core Moment

There’s some new competition in town, at least in the market. Mediatek is launching the Dimensity 8400 processor, offering a challenge to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chipsets. Notably, Mediatek have stepped away from efficiency cores, instead relying on 8 regular cores:

“[MediaTek’s results] claim a 41% boost to multi-core performance over the Dimensity 8300. The company also says peak power use has been reduced by as much as 44%. We’re keen to see what this means for everyday power consumption, though.”

(Android Authority).

What To Play?

As the end of the calendar year approaches, the top lists and retrospectives are flowing freely. With one more holiday weekend approaching, Minireview’s list of the top mobile games in the year should help you pass the time!

“On MiniReview, we’ve reviewed more than 350 games this year. And today, it’s time to rank the top 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 games tier list includes something for everyone – regardless of taste and genre preferences.”

(Minireview).

And Finally…

Looking ahead to 2025, what smartphone trends are going to emerge and which are going to be widely adopted? Hadlee Simons looks into their crystal ball, with battery life one of the big winners”

“Perhaps the biggest reason is the wider adoption of silicon batteries, offering more capacity for the same physical size than lithium batteries. Everyone from HONOR and Xiaomi to OPPO and OnePlus are stepping up in this regard. In fact, the vivo X200 Pro Mini has a more compact 6.39-inch screen paired with a large 5,700mAh battery.”

(Android Authority).

Android Circuit rounds up the 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!