Samsung was once known for its relentless innovation and feature-packed flagship Galaxy phones. While the company is still the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer, it no longer enjoys the same technical advantage over its competitors. No wonder its market share is rapidly falling. More importantly, it is losing the trust of its customers and fans.
No Thanks, Keep Reading
While Samsung apologized for not innovating enough, that isn’t enough. In 2025, the company should address many other longstanding issues to return to its glory days.
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5 A more compelling mid-range Galaxy lineup
Time to give the Galaxy A series the attention it deserves
Samsung sells over 200 million Galaxy phones globally every year. However, the company has been steadily losing market share, with its smartphone sales declining almost every year. IDC reported that Samsung shipped 57.8 million Galaxy devices in Q3 2024, 2.8% less than a year ago.
While Samsung’s premium Galaxy S and Fold/Flip lineup take up the limelight, the company’s mid-range and low-end Galaxy A and M series devices account for most of its sales. There’s a good reason why its sales are declining.
The past few generations of Samsung’s budget smartphones have been underwhelming, offering only minor upgrades at best. Many of these devices feature Exynos SoCs, which deliver performance that lags a generation or two behind their competitors. Worse yet, Samsung commands a premium for its mid-range devices. So, consumers pay more money for an inferior device.
With the smartphone market becoming more competitive every year, Samsung needs to rethink its Galaxy A strategy to remain the world’s biggest smartphone maker.
4 Address longstanding issues
Fix the slow shutter speed problem
Samsung flagship phones have long been unable to capture moving objects properly in low-light scenarios. This is despite the company making big claims about the cameras of its flagship Galaxy every year. If you have a pet or kid, this makes it impossible to capture good photos of them, as they are almost always moving.
I have used almost every major Samsung flagship, starting with the original Galaxy S. I quit buying Galaxy phones due to this issue. While Samsung has never publicly acknowledged the issue, it is aware of the problem. This explains why it launched the Camera Assistant Good Lock module, which includes an option to prioritize shutter speed over focusing. While it improves the situation, it does not solve the problem fully.
It’s understandable if Samsung took a generation or two to solve the slow shutter speed issue on its premium Galaxy phones. But that did not happen, reflecting poorly on the company and how little it supposedly values customer feedback.
3 Catch up to the competition
Time to stop being stingy with RAM and storage
For a flagship phone that costs $1,300, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra ships with 12GB RAM and 256GB base storage. Worse, the company wants you to pay an extra $120 to upgrade the storage to 512GB. It’s the same story with the Galaxy Z Fold 6, which costs $1,900 and packs 12GB RAM with 256GB storage. Upgrading to 512GB storage costs another $120, bumping the foldable’s price to a whopping $2,020.
In comparison, OnePlus charges an extra $100 to bump the RAM and storage on the OnePlus 12 to 16GB RAM and 512GB storage. Embarrassingly for Samsung, the OnePlus Open is $200 cheaper than the Galaxy Z Fold 6, yet it packs more RAM and storage (16GB RAM and 512GB storage). Even Google’s $1,800 Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold ships with more RAM than Samsung’s flagship foldable while being $100 cheaper.
It’s even worse when you compare the base Galaxy S24 to its competitors, as it only ships with 8GB of RAM.
2 Get back to innovating
Adopt newer tech, faster
Samsung was once renowned in the smartphone industry for its relentless drive to innovate. It was among the first companies to launch a smartphone with a curved display and played a key role in bringing foldable smartphones into the mainstream. However, the current Samsung appears to be a shell of its former self, resting on its laurels rather than innovating.
Chinese Android manufacturers are launching phones with 100W fast charging and 80W wireless fast charging. On the other hand, Samsung is still launching devices with 25/45W wired fast charging. Wireless charging speeds have also remained stuck at 15W for almost half a decade.
Similarly, Samsung has equipped its Ultra flagship with a 5,000mAh battery since 2020. Rumors suggest the upcoming Galaxy S25 Ultra will have the same battery capacity.
Xiaomi, Oppo, OnePlus, and others are adopting newer Silicon carbon (SiC) batteries, allowing for denser and higher-capacity batteries. For example, the Oppo Find X8 Pro ships with a massive 5,900mAh battery despite being lighter and slimmer than the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
That isn’t it, though. Samsung has used a 200MP primary camera on its flagship phone for the last three years. All leaks point to the upcoming Galaxy S25 Ultra using a 200MP sensor with minimal upgrades. In the meantime, Samsung’s competitors have switched to using bigger sensors with wider apertures for better bokeh, low-light imaging, and dynamic range.
1 Don’t cripple the Plus for Ultra
The Galaxy S24+ could have been so much more
Since the launch of the Galaxy S20 Ultra in 2020, Samsung has favored its Ultra-flagship and handicapped the Plus model to push the former’s sales.
Samsung’s current Ultra flagship, the Galaxy S24 Ultra, packs a 200MP primary camera, a 10MP 3x optical shooter, a 12MP ultrawide, and a 5x 50MP telephoto. The Galaxy S24 Plus uses a 50MP primary camera, a 12MP ultrawide without macro support, and a 10MP 3x optical shooter. So, you get an inferior primary camera and limited zoom capabilities on the Plus model. For reasons best known only to Samsung, its $999 flagship phone does not support macro photography.
While the Galaxy S24 Plus and Ultra displays can reach a peak brightness of 2,600 nits, only the latter has Gorilla Armor glass, significantly reducing reflections.
The problem with Samsung’s approach is that if you want the best Galaxy phone, you must get the Ultra and live with its 6.8-inch display, regardless of whether you want such a big phone.
Google and Apple realized this mistake and updated their flagship lineup accordingly this year. The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are virtually the same, except for their display size and battery life. Google also tweaked its strategy, making the Pixel 9 Pro a compact flagship and launching the Pixel 9 Pro XL with similar specs in a larger body.
All rumors suggest Samsung will follow the same strategy for the upcoming Galaxy S25 series, handicapping the Plus variant in favor of the Ultra.
2025 will be an important year for Samsung
To a certain extent, Samsung appears to have realized its mistake of not innovating enough. One UI 7 could mark the beginning of this new journey in the company’s history, as its revamped UI focuses on delivering a better user experience. Much will depend on the Galaxy S25 series and Fold 7. Early leaks suggest modest upgrades to Samsung’s 2025 flagship smartphone, though the company could have a few surprises up its sleeve.
