The end of the year is a time of reflection. And while we know we should be practicing gratitude for all of the good things 2025 brought us, we at Android Police did find ourselves thinking about some things that got under our skin.
Since today is Festivus, we’re airing out our grievances here.
AI everywhere you go
News of AI, whether it’s as savior or villain, is inescapable but this is the first year it’s been that way not just in the news we read about it, but in the phones that we read that news on.
Our own Andy Boxall recently reflected on how AI has been embedded into every aspect of phones not for the sake of usefulness, but because AI hype is the biggest product release of the past few years.
There are some genuinely helpful aspects of AI that have improved Android devices, like Circle to Search that cuts through the clutter of apps, and Magic Eraser, which transforms what would have been ruined shots into post-worthy photos.
But each time-saver seems to result in tenfold as many things users just don’t want, particularly when it comes to AI-packed devices like Google’s Pixel 10. One Reddit user posed the question last week: “Does anyone feel like AI is ruining the Google Pixel experience?” to a chorus of mostly yeses.
Tri-folds announced before their time
Against all odds, foldable phones have succeeded. Shipments continued to climb worldwide this year, led by the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7. Android Police’s Stephen Radochia said of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 that he could see “the merits of a more casual user picking one up.”
Despite their adoption, though, problems do persist with the form factor. Screens do not indeed lay as perfectly flat as they do on nonfoldable models and often have that noticeable crease. They tend to be more fragile while also being heavier. Battery life can lag behind other phones because of the power it takes to power more than one screen. We could go on.
But forget all that, because before any of those issues have been solved, tri-folds are here. The Huawei Mate XT, while not available in the US, first laid out the case for phones that can turn into tablets. And the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold is set to be released in the US early next year and already sold out at its debut in South Korea.
Is it convenient to have a tablet that folds down into pocketable form? Yes. Is it convenient to have a phone that has to pump out enough power for a whole tablet? No.
Pixel woes
The Pixel is Google’s flagship phone, so users expect the company has put everything it has into it. And yet this year, they were really let down. In fact, Android Police’s Jon Gilbert declared, “I don’t trust Pixel phones anymore.” While that sentiment was about his disappointment with Magic Cue, it was one echoed by many over the various issues Pixel faced this past year.
Battery swelling, battery depletion, display flickering, unlock annoyances, pocket dialing. It’s been a difficult year for Pixels. Google has finally offered fixes to some of the issues, but it has lost some trust along the way.
The struggle of being too thin
At a time when everyone is getting slimmer, phones have followed suit. They slip easily into pockets and purses, but even the fairly powerful Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge is more a proof of concept than a functional daily driver.
That’s because the thinner a phone, the smaller the battery that fits inside it. And also apparently, the lower the sales. Samsung cut production because of low demand. And, yes, this is Android Police, stress on the Android, but we’d be remiss not to mention that even iPhone Air sales are struggling. It seems like the thinner the phone, the higher the danger of it disappearing from the market altogether.
While Android Police’s Mark Jansen is not sad about it, there are still lots of people who want to see slim phones succeed, so here’s hoping that in the near future we get a phone that doesn’t have to sacrifice too much to be thin.
Better things to come
As 2026 approaches, we’re sure we’ll have more to complain about but there’s much much more that we’re looking forward to. In just two weeks, CES will be here, which is our version of tech Christmas. We have a wishlist a mile long and we’re sure at least some of will be filled.
