January 22nd is the big day when all the casual smartphone fans will learn about Samsung’s next big thing, but those of us who have been following along with Galaxy S25 leaks already have a pretty good picture of what’s going to be shown off at the next Unpacked. After this week’s news, that picture is coming through in crystal-clear Ultra HDR.
After a lull in software news over the holiday break, the week in mobile was a busy one, as CES was underway in Vegas, and Google’s developers were back on the clock. The OnePlus 13 finally made its US debut, and Qi2 got a major vote of confidence after a slow start, all while every Kindle since 2013 got a brand-new jailbreak.
Last Week’s Roundup
The Galaxy S25 rips a few pages out of the Pixel playbook in last week’s top news
And a pair of Samsung devices make their US debut
There’s almost nothing left to learn about the Galaxy S25
The week started off with a big announcement from Samsung: The Galaxy S25 is coming on January 22nd, and you can reserve one now for a $50 credit. Except that $50 can’t be used towards the phone, and it evaporates if you don’t buy an accessory alongside your S25, which is an objectively inferior promotion when compared to its Canadian counterpart.
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Samsung’s US Galaxy S25 reservation deal can’t hold a candle to its Canadian counterpart
It’s a borderline bad deal in the US
On the unofficial news front, leaks kept rolling in. Renders that appear to have come from Samsung itself showed off new wallpapers, then they were up for download days later. While we knew the camera hardware probably isn’t changing much, new software tricks like macro photography and an Audio Magic Eraser feature are reportedly in the pipeline. On the downside, another leak suggested that the S25 Ultra’s S Pen won’t feature Bluetooth, in a potential blow to gesture controls.
But the biggest Galaxy S25 leak came at the very end of the week. A report outlined virtually every single spec from the entire S25 lineup, including dimensions, battery capacities, and precisely which versions of the Snapdragon 8 Elite will be powering each model.
Main Story
No need to wait until January 22, all the Galaxy S25 specs just leaked today
Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy across the line
Android 15 gets not one, but two useful updates
Google updated the Android 16 Developer Preview before it dipped for the holiday break, so Android 15 was the focus immediately after. This week, both the stable and beta versions of Android 15 received updates with significant bug fixes. On the beta front, Google released Android 15 QPR2 Beta 2.1, which will eventually become the March 2025 Pixel Feature Drop, with fixes for crashes, freezes, and reboots.
Over on the stable channel, the January 2025 monthly security patches rolled in, fixing a number of Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) that were given the highest risk designation. One of these critical-severity CVEs closed a Pixel-specific loophole that could allow attackers to remotely execute code on the device (CVE-2024-53842). Perhaps even more significant, at least for dark mode users, was a fix that made themed icons stop showing up with washed-out colors.
Main Story
Google drops the first Pixel update of 2025 with a fix for themed icons
The January 2025 security patches are here
The OnePlus 13 series finally goes global
The OnePlus 13 and 13R finally went global this week. So far, reviews are overwhelmingly positive thanks to features like powered-off finding and solid return policies, with the main downside being price. But OnePlus addressed this by creating a bit of separation between the models it’s offering in the US, so if the 13’s true flagship pricing is too much for you, the firmly midrange 13R should provide a better fit.
Main Story
Review: The OnePlus 13 is good enough to make you say goodbye to Samsung
A true daily driver candidate
Every Kindle since 2013 gets a jailbreak
If you own a Kindle from any time in the past decade and you’re unhappy with Amazon’s software experience, there was big news this week. A new Kindle jailbreak called Winterbreak was released, offering the ability to completely unlock any Kindle device released since 2013. We’ve tried it out and we’re in the process of writing a detailed how-to, but in the meantime, a rough overview guide is available on the Kindle Modding Wiki. If you’re interested, you might want to hurry, as Amazon will likely update Kindles to close this loophole soon.
Main Story
A new Kindle jailbreak has dropped, opening up every model released since 2013
WinterBreak is here, at least until the next OTA
Qi2 gets a major vote of confidence at CES
To say that Qi2 has been off to a slow start would be an understatement, with no major Android flagships supporting the magnetic wireless charging standard over a year after its release. But at CES 2025 this week, news broke that Android will finally have its MagSafe moment.
Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) itself confirmed that Samsung and Google are officially committed to the standard, with devices from both OEMs expected to utilize Qi2 in 2025. Meanwhile, the standard itself was updated to Qi2.1, featuring new extensions like one that will allow car chargers to find and lock onto Qi2 devices to improve the wireless charging experience in vehicles.
