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Samsung Galaxy S25
Samsung’s upcoming flagship trio are likely now mere months away – you should have 23 January 2025 in your diary until we hear otherwise – but early leaks have suggested the S25 Ultra will follow the trend for flat sides and curved corners, making it a closer match for the regular S25. Expect smaller screen bezels, and Snapdragon 8 Elite silicon across the board, no matter where in the world you live.
I’m betting Samsung will have plenty to say about Galaxy AI come launch day, and we can expect the usual top-tier OLED screens, feature-packed take on Android, and suitably flagship pricing. Charging speeds aren’t looking like they’ll improve, though, and whether there’ll be a new suite of rear cameras is still unknown.
OnePlus 13
OnePlus’ next ‘flagship killer’ phone has been on sale for a month in China, and will likely be announced for the rest of the world in the coming weeks. Don’t expect it to actually go on sale until early 2025, though.
Specs-wise you’re looking at Snapdragon 8 Elite power, a 6.82in, flat AMOLED screen, huge 6000mAh battery with 100W wired and 50W wireless charging, IP69 water resistance and an ultrasonic under-display fingerprint sensor. The iconic alert slider returns, as does the Hasselblad partnership for the rear camera trio. All three now have 50MP sensors, with the telephoto bringing 3x optical zoom, while the selfie cam up front maxes out at 32MP.
Honor Magic 7
Another early Snapdragon 8 Elite handset, at least as far as China was concerned. The Honor Magic 7 series was launched there in regular and Pro varieties, but only one version is expected to make its way to other territories, most likely in March 2025 around Mobile World Congress.
As always the Pro is a photography-focused flagship, with its 50MP lead snapper getting a variable aperture lens, the telephoto pixel count climbing to a heady 200MP, and Honor’s Eagle Eye tech for taking crisp shots of fast-moving subjects. There are a bunch of AI-assisted shooting modes, and plenty more on-device AI everywhere else.
A 5850mAh battery is actually pretty tame by today’s Chinese standards, but 100W wired and 80W wireless charging should top the phone up in no time. The 6.8in screen has subtle curves on all four sides, which goes against the current phone world trend for fully flat displays – but it toes the line elsewhere with a flat metal frame, itself a big change for Honor after multiple generations of curved-edge handsets.
Xiaomi 15 series
One of the first commercially available phones with Snapdragon 8 Elite internals, the Xiaomi 15 series had it all to prove. Early reports out of China suggest it has delivered, with lower power consumption, stronger performance, faster AI processing and higher quality gaming.
The other major upgrade seems to be battery. The regular Xiaomi 15 has a compact 6.36in display, yet finds room inside for a 5400mAh cell; the larger 6.73in Xiaomi 15 Pro tops out at 6100mAh. Both are big improvements over the previous generation, and larger than you’ll find in any Western flagship.
Both phones follow current design trends with flat frames and curved corners. Each has a trio of 50MP rear cameras, with the Pro’s 5x telephoto zoom and macro focus abilities being a reason to upgrade. There’s no clue right now if Xiaomi is also working on a photography-focused Xiaomi 15 Ultra. Given the outgoing Xiaomi 14 Ultra was one of our favourite camera phones of 2024, we’re hoping we won’t have to wait too long to see a sequel.
Google Pixel 9a
Google has only recently overhauled its mainline Pixel range with a smaller Pro, and brought the Fold on side as well. Rumour suggest that could be it for the Pixel 9 generation, with a cheaper 9a off the cards – but other leakers have indicated that’s not the case. If we do get a Pixel 9a, expect it to hover around the $500/£500 mark and dilute down the Pixel 9’s Gemini AI smarts, clever rear cameras and fresh new design into something a little more wallet friendly.
Apple iPhone SE 4
Apple’s most affordable iPhone model will apparently inherit styling from the iPhone 14, with flat sides and a 6.1in OLED screen bringing the SE bang up to date. That’s a big change from the outgoing model, which has old-school TouchID and a diddy 4.7in screen.
Dynamic Island is unlikely to make the cut, and the Action button probably won’t appear either; expect a notch and a traditional alert slider instead. USB-C connectivity is a given, as European rulings will soon prevent Apple from selling Lightning-equipped devices. A price rise seems likely to account for all that new hardware.
