Galaxy S25 Slim might be the star of Samsung’s rumored January event

A survey suggested a few days ago that Samsung might unveil the Galaxy S25 series on January 5th, which would make it the earliest launch for a Galaxy S model in Samsung’s history. The Galaxy S24’s Unpacked happened on January 17th this past year.

That was just a survey. We pointed out at the time that nothing is official until Samsung makes it so. The Korean giant has not accidentally leaked the Galaxy S25 Unpacked date nor sent out press invites. But a new report from Korea gives another potential launch date for the Galaxy S25 series — along with a potential plot twist in Samsung’s launch strategy.

The Galaxy S25 Slim might be the surprise star of Samsung’s Unpacked event, which will reportedly happen on January 23rd. However, considering the time zone differences between Korea and the US, that could turn out to be January 22nd. The Galaxy S25 launch event might take place in San Francisco.

Korean site FNNews reported the January 23rd Unpacked event date. Max Jambor, a source that 9to5Google calls reliable, retweeted the date. Jambor later corrected it to January 22nd local time.

FNNews also says that Samsung is looking to finish the development of the ultra-thin Galaxy S25 Slim in time for the Unpacked event. Previously, reports said the Galaxy S25 Slim wouldn’t be ready for the spotlight until sometime in April 2025.

The new report says the Galaxy S25 Slim could be the surprise at Samsung’s event. This year’s event also had a surprise at the end in the form of a Galaxy Ring teaser. After that, Samsung brought the ring to MWC but only gave the wearable a proper launch in July.

Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Slim will supposedly feature the same performance as the thicker Galaxy S25. This suggests the phone will run on the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip as the regular models.

By launching it early, Samsung would beat Apple to market by more than six months with a slim version of its flagship phone. There’s no doubt in my mind that Samsung has added the Slim to the Galaxy S25 lineup in response to the iPhone 17 Air rumors. Remember that Samsung Display is Apple’s main iPhone screen supplier, so the company knows Apple’s plans long before we do. As a result, Samsung can work on its responses to Apple’s next-generation devices long before they’re released. Still, this is good news for competition and the future of ultra-thin handsets.

It’s unclear how thin the Galaxy S25 Slim will be, however. We also have no idea whether the phone will be available in stores at the same time as the regular models. As for the price, that’s a mystery as well, though you should undoubtedly expect to pay a premium.

If the Unpacked launch date is correct, the Galaxy S25 release date should be sometime around February 5th. The Galaxy S24 hit stores on January 31st, some 14 days after the January 17th Unpacked event. On that note, January 17th was a Wednesday this year. January 22nd, 2025, would also fall on a Wednesday.