The Galaxy S25 Extremely appears to be like to be an incredible cellphone. With out having touched one, I believe the professionals far outweigh the cons; should you want a brand new cellphone and are able to pay flagship pricing, the S25 Extremely is certainly price .
It isn’t with out its justifiable share of controversy, after all. You will have the entire Qi2 with none magnets difficulty that loads of individuals do not like as a result of they need or must magnetically stick issues to the again of their cellphone.
I anticipated this when the WPC needed to rework the Qi2 spec to incorporate “Qi2 Prepared” gadgets that lose the magnetic requirement, and haven’t any actual opinion on it. Purchase the case with magnets if you really want it and the difficulty is solved.
What cannot be fastened, although, is the dumbing down of the S Pen. Samsung eliminated the Bluetooth performance of the S Pen with the S25 Extremely, claiming that fewer than 0.5% of customers have been making the most of the characteristic. And it is by no means coming to the S25 Extremely as a result of essential {hardware} is not in place and the software program to manage it has been faraway from the system.
Surprisingly, most of that {hardware} continues to be in place contained in the Pen itself. The circuit board and wiring exist, however the board itself would not have the tiny parts in place. With out realizing precisely what the half numbers of these parts have been, I can nonetheless estimate that they price about $2.00. In different phrases, Samsung might be saving two bucks per cellphone by eradicating the S Pen’s superior options.
That is dumb. It is best to by no means nickel and dime your approach to the next revenue margin in your most upscale and premium product. If you wish to promote a tool that prices $1,300, it’s essential discover one other approach to improve your margins.
This is not one thing most individuals will care about. The elimination of issues just like the headphone jack or SD card affected everybody, so outrage was anticipated, however Samsung is correct when it says that nearly no person used the Bluetooth features of the S Pen, so nearly no person is affected by this.
That does not matter due to who is affected: Samsung’s “elite” fanbase. These are customers who purchase the Galaxy S Extremely yearly due to issues like a sophisticated lively stylus that is deeply built-in into the working system. Even when they’re going to by no means use them, options like this are the explanation why the Galaxy S Extremely is the very best cellphone cash can purchase of their eyes.
Sure, the financial savings are large — $2 per cellphone and 25 million telephones bought is $50 million — however is the black eye price it? This path solely results in shedding a few of your elite customers whilst you avoid wasting cash.
I’ve no pores and skin on this sport. I am not occupied with shopping for a Galaxy S25 Extremely (although I might advocate it to a couple individuals I do know), and even when I have been, I am not apprehensive a couple of smarter S Pen. However I do know what appears to be like good and what appears to be like dangerous from a buyer’s perspective as a result of I’m a buyer first and a tech author second.
I would not be shocked to see each magnetic Qi2 charging and the return of Bluetooth for the S Pen on the S26 Extremely, however I additionally would not be shocked to not see them. All of it is determined by which selection Samsung thinks is finest for its backside line.
Extremely reparable
The Galaxy S25 Extremely is Samsung’s newest flagship, with all of the bells and whistles you assume you may want, like a strong chipset, a 200MP quad-camera system, and a built-in stylus. Plus, the cellphone is simpler to restore then previous Samsung flagships, making it good for the long term
