- 8 minutes ago
Mark sits down with Samsung's director of smartphone product management, Blake Gaiser, to talk about the controversial Galaxy S25 Edge and whether it's truly a flagship smartphone. In this video, we find out what makes the S25 Edge so thin, but also ask about trade-offs around battery life and the lack of a telephoto lens. And we also touch on the ongoing AI battle between Samsung and Apple, what's next for foldable phones and whether we'll even be using smartphones 10 years from now.
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00:00Hey guys, today I'm here with Blake Geiser from Samsung to talk about what's new and what's next
00:04for Samsung's phones. From the Galaxy S25 Edge to Galaxy AI, we're diving into how Samsung is
00:10making big moves when it comes to mobile, and what it means for you. Without further ado, Blake,
00:15I know that we've caught you at a very interesting time in Samsung's smartphone lifecycle. We're
00:19fresh off the launch of the Galaxy S25 Edge, which is on sale now, and we're coming up on the
00:24next
00:24wave of foldable phones, which I know we can't talk about just yet. But let's start with the
00:28Galaxy S25 Edge. It's 5.8 millimeters thin. It's just 163 grams. It's a remarkable design,
00:35but there's some naysayers out there. So when you think about the target audience for the Edge,
00:39who is it? There is actually a pretty good segment out there who's talking about,
00:43you know, being on like right in between an ultra owner or a plus owner. They like the big screen.
00:50They're not an S Pen user. They want a flagship camera, you know, but they don't want the weight
00:56and heft, you know, that you get with the ultra. So there is quite a bit of people out there
01:01who
01:02just want a light, tech forward, fashionable device that has all the performance that you would expect
01:09from a high-end flagship phone. And, you know, this is really where that kind of delivers for
01:14our customers. So do you consider the Edge to, because I know it's a very subjective definition,
01:19do you consider it to be a flagship? You know, we do consider it to be a flagship. That's why
01:24we're
01:24talking about it. That's why we're launching it kind of off cycle is it is a new innovation piece
01:29that we're bringing forth where we're taking out so much weight, so much thickness of this device,
01:34while not compromising on the things that are really important to our customers, such as
01:39durability, the performance of, you know, the chip set, having that flagship camera lens,
01:45the 200 megapixel camera. And so we do believe that this is that kind of Goldilocks for so many of
01:51our customers that is going to give them everything they want and, you know, not give
01:56them the things that they're not looking for. I actually use the iPhone 16 Pro Max as my everyday
02:00phone. And it's really interesting, like just getting up and like typing with the device and
02:04just like holding it for like an extended period of time and then going back to like a regular
02:09flagship phone. There's a big difference just in terms of the sheer weight and the heft of the
02:14device, not only in terms of when like you're carrying it, but also when you're using it. Do you,
02:19like, are you seeing that? Like when customers are like getting their hands on it for the first
02:23time? You know, what's so amazing about this device is that, you know, normally in my position,
02:29I'm going to, you know, pitch these phones, whether they be to, you know, our carriers or,
02:34you know, customers in media. And I just kind of gave up on PowerPoint. I gave up on saying,
02:43here's the tech specs, here's why it's so cool. And I just said, okay, you know,
02:48here's five things I want you to know about the phone. But before any of that, just hold it.
02:53Right. And that is kind of where it kind of settled out where it was like that experience
02:58of like, not only is it so thin, you know, it has the full plus screen to it. But it's
03:06so light
03:06too. It almost doesn't feel real. And so it's like, once people get it in their hand, you know,
03:12that hand field is not just about thickness. It's not just about weight. It's about weight
03:15distribution. It's about, you know, how you can reach across the screen, all of those things,
03:21so much better with this device that it just didn't make sense to try to sell people on tech
03:28specs. And so when I hear those naysayers, I'm like, okay, get your hands on the device.
03:32And then, you know, let's see what your opinion is.
03:35Right. So one question that if we're talking about the thinness of the edge is how did you do it?
03:40Because obviously there's some things that you needed to take out, like maybe like the size of the
03:43battery, but in terms of the actual design of the internal components, like how did you make it so
03:48thin? Well, you know, yes, we really designed this from the ground up to be thin. The goal was to
03:56be
03:57thin without compromise. We really didn't want to take things away from a device to make it thin. We
04:03could have done that years ago. And so it was really kind of working towards that moment where
04:08we could engineer it in a way to be thin and have the performance that our customers would expect.
04:14So yes, it has a 3,900 milliamp hour battery, which is about a hundred milliamps smaller than
04:21our base unit. Right. You know, so it's really thin, but it does have the Snapdragon 8 Elite,
04:26which is a three nanometer processor that was custom built for Samsung. So it gives you the entire,
04:32you know, a full day battery life, you know, with that device. But everything about this device
04:36was focusing on that slimness to it. So making sure structurally it was going to be extremely
04:43durable. We're utilizing titanium frame. We're utilizing Corning's most recent ceramic two glass
04:50on it. We're even putting in a vapor chamber cooling system that's larger than the plus model.
04:56So that way we're able to utilize every single component as efficiently and effectively as possible
05:02and making sure that how we put it together gave you a really good balance in the hand.
05:07So it wasn't top heavy or bottom heavy, but yeah, every single detail was meticulously planned out
05:14to make this device. I think one of the concerns that people have with like when, even when they
05:18start seeing like just the leaks of this device, they're like, well, it's just going to snap in
05:22half when I put it in my pocket. How do you make sure that it feels super light, but not
05:27too light,
05:28like a toy, when you pick it up, you're talking about the distribution of weight a little bit,
05:31but also to make sure that it's going to stand the test of time, right? Because there's some worries
05:35when you get to something so thin. I think we remember Ben Gate with some iPads perhaps.
05:40But yeah, like how do you avoid that?
05:44It comes down with having that in mind when you're starting the engineering of, you know,
05:48not only are you making sure the weight is distributed evenly, you're making sure that
05:53at no point in time, there's a cross section that's going to, you know, allow for it to bend
05:58more than, you know, it absolutely should. So I haven't been able to break it yet, which is a great
06:05thing. So do you need a case? And if so, does it defeat the purpose of having something so slim?
06:11So cases are a very personal thing for our customers. A lot of the time, initially people think
06:18it's for protection. A lot of the time it's just for individuality and customization. I don't use
06:25a case on it. I am more than confident that it's, you know, it's a beautiful phone. If I really
06:31wanted
06:32to do something and it's probably more to that customization, I might put like a skin on it or
06:36something like that rather than a case, but you know, to each their own, I guess.
06:40Okay. So there are some trade-offs when it comes to the S25 Edge. And one of the ones that
06:45people are
06:45talking about is not having that telephoto zoom. You do get like a 2X equivalent with the 200
06:50megapixel main camera, but you don't have the 3X telephoto. You don't have the 30X, you know,
06:55space zoom. So are people going to miss that? And what do you think about that particular trade-off?
06:59You know, we are just so far ahead in our camera tech that people don't really understand the quality
07:07of their photos that they're getting. Not only is it things like optical zooms, but it's also the
07:13agentic AI that we have built in, you know, from the chipset up. Utilizing cognitive aware engines so
07:19that your camera understands what you're taking photos of and is able to utilize AI to give you
07:25that perfect shot. But when we're looking at the usage of our cameras with our customers,
07:31we know a couple of things. We know that the most popular zooms that our customers use are the 0
07:38.6X
07:39to get those really wide macro views. The 1X, 2X, and 3X. Okay. By far more usability on those three
07:48settings than anything else. Interesting. Is it nice to have, you know, the 100X space zoom at times?
07:54Absolutely. Sure. Is it something that you're going to use every day or even every month? And when you're
07:59doing side-by-side comparisons, I think customers are really going to see that you're getting fantastic
08:04quality that meets or beats our competition. So let's talk about battery life. So we mentioned
08:09that it has a 3,900 milliamp hour battery in the Edge. And based on our own testing, we have
08:14our
08:14web surfing test and the Edge got a little like 12 and a half hours or so, which is maybe
08:19a couple
08:19hours less than the regular S25. And then the S25 plus was, I think, three and a half hours or
08:25so
08:25better. So there is a difference in terms of endurance. So I guess the question is like,
08:30what is that dividing line in terms of what is enough battery life for someone who's going for
08:35a device like this? You know, I think enough battery life for most customers is just an all-day
08:40usage. You don't want to find yourself at lunch with an empty battery. And what we've seen with
08:46this device is that it has worked, you know, as well or better than the S24 base model and very
08:52close
08:53to the S25 base model. Okay. Not only that, you get super fast charging with it, you know, with 25
08:58watts.
08:59So 30 minutes in, you're north of 50% of a battery. As long as you can live with it,
09:04you know, from sunup to sundown without having any issues, we think that's, you know, a great
09:09experience. And personally, I haven't had, you know, much of an issue with the battery life
09:15whatsoever. Not even noticeable, something that I'm even concerned about using it as my day-to-day
09:20driver. Okay. In terms of battery technologies, obviously this is using lithium-ion. Some people
09:25have been talking about silicon carbide, which I guess is a relatively new technology. Some smartphone
09:30makers are starting to experiment with it because I think it gives you more capacity in the same,
09:34or more, yeah, more capacity in the same amount of space. Is that something that you explored for
09:38this phone? Or what do you just think about that technology in general?
09:41You know, Samsung's always looking at every new emerging technology that's out there. It's
09:47something that we're definitely not keeping our eye off of, but with, you know, that new chipset,
09:52with agentic AI helping with performance and efficiencies of these batteries, we really felt
09:58that, you know, going with our traditional lithium-ion battery was the right move for this
10:02device. Okay. Well, you brought up AI, and obviously Galaxy AI has been around for well over a year at
10:07this point. There's lots of features that people can take advantage of. I believe you get everything
10:12that you get on the regular S25 series when it comes to the S25 Edge. What features are people
10:18gravitating towards and using most often based on your own internal data?
10:22Yeah. You know, when we look at Galaxy AI, we kind of break it down into four sections. We break
10:29it
10:29down to creativity, communication, productivity, and health. Okay. And which one of those is being used
10:36more really depends on the customer. So what we see as an example are translation services,
10:42where you can talk into your phone and real-time translate it on a phone call. Those customers
10:49that use that, they use it a lot. Whereas, you know, our younger demographics do more post-processing
10:57of their photos and videos to post, you know, online than anyone else. So they're going to use
11:02generative edit. They're going to utilize our audio eraser to really kind of take out the sounds that
11:08they're not looking for. And so it really kind of depends on who it is that you're talking to.
11:13Right. To your point, S25 Edge has everything that the S25 family has. And probably the most exciting
11:21one that people are utilizing the most is that audio eraser where you can just take noise and pull it
11:28out of the video. So whether it be construction noise or nature noise or general audience noise,
11:37music, whatever it might be, you can custom EQ that to give you the video that you want. And
11:44it's something that you can play with real time that we've seen a lot of people extremely happy
11:48with that one. Is there potentially a tipping point where people are so excited about what they're seeing
11:53on Samsung phones and what you can do with Gemini, for example, like just as an example,
11:58the other night I was cooking some steaks. I like fired up Gemini. It told me how thick the steaks
12:03were.
12:03And based on that, how long I should cook on each side. You cannot do that on an iPhone.
12:09And Siri is delayed as everyone knows. Is there potentially like a little bit like grass is greener
12:15growing among like the Apple community out there? And someone might be like,
12:20my phone can't do that. I want this. Or do you feel like people are just going to be stuck
12:24in their
12:24ways or what do you think? You know, AI is such a exciting time right now and having it on
12:32the
12:32mobile platform, it's still in its infancy. Yeah. So with S25, we really launched what we call seamless
12:38action across apps. And really what that is, is the fact that that's 25 was really built from
12:47the framework, the Android framework up with AI in mind. And so one of the things that we look at,
12:52you know, from a product standpoint is how can we get clicks, take clicks away from our customer?
12:58You know, what we see is, you know, after three or four clicks that you have to do,
13:02you kind of get overwhelmed or bored or it's not worth it for you. Right.
13:06So utilizing AI and multimodality to be able to do multiple things with just one voice prompt has been,
13:15you know, a real game changer and we're just scratching the surface. So, you know,
13:20imagine you want to find a restaurant, you're not exactly sure what kind of restaurant you want to
13:24invite some friends, you want to be reminded and then get directions there. That's like 20 clicks
13:30for you to go out, search Google, find the restaurant, go into your text messages, text your
13:36friends, put it on your calendar, then go into Google maps. And, you know, so you can simply ask,
13:42you know, find the most, you know, find a local barbecue joint that's pet friendly,
13:49send it to my friend and, you know, put a calendar reminder, you know, for 7 PM. And it will
13:56do all of
13:56those things at one point for you. Right. It will even compose the text message for you. You can look
14:02it over and then just press click. That's two clicks, one click to start the voice message and one
14:08click to send it to your friend. And as cool as that is, how do you expose customers to those
14:14possibilities without being too in their face? Like, Hey, did you know your phone could do this?
14:19That is the hard part, you know, especially with things that don't exist or haven't existed for quite
14:27some time is how much and how strong we, we send that message to our customers. And what we're really
14:34seeing is that the in-store experience is the way to go. You know, if you want to learn about
14:39AI or if
14:40you want to learn about foldables, going into a store, getting your hands on it, playing with it
14:45is really important. And so we'll build out those experiences on those devices so people can really
14:52learn about them and try them out real time. Right. And with things like the S25 edge, you know,
14:58we've worked with our partners, all of our carriers to utilize different securities so they can really
15:04experience the weight and feel of that device. And then on the device, they can learn about,
15:09you know, the latest Galaxy AI and all the benefits that they're going to have from that.
15:13Cool. Speaking of wow moments, I think foldables fall under that category where it's one of those
15:17things where you have to hold it in your hand and experience to sort of get, you know, potentially
15:21the value proposition, whether it's a book style, flip, et cetera. We know that the next generation of
15:26you guys have said that it's, that it's on the way with the, whether they're called the fold seven and
15:30flip seven, we'll have to see. Uh, and we are already getting a taste of one UI eight. You're,
15:35you're teasing some of the features that are going to be available, not just on the S25 series,
15:38but also the upcoming foldables. What in your mind, what is the state of foldables right now?
15:44And like, how far can you push this category? You know, we have six generations out right now,
15:51six years of learning how to make these very complicated, hard devices work beautifully. Um,
15:59we're very proud of the state of our foldables, but we also recognize that awareness of foldables
16:05isn't near what it is for a traditional smartphone, right? A lot of people, you know, even to our
16:11surprise, don't even know that they exist yet. I feel like a lot of your, you know, tech savvy,
16:17uh, listeners are going to say, how does nobody know about these devices? But you know, it's,
16:23it's very, very true. And one UI eight and foldables were, I think that we're really excited
16:31about foldables is that with that different form factor of those devices, it allows us to do more
16:38with AI because it is a device that can do literally a lot more than a traditional smartphone can do.
16:46Well, I'm trying to think of examples. Like one is live translation, right? Where you have
16:49like the, what's on the outer screen and you can see what's going on on the other side. Are there
16:54any other examples like where AI is different or better on foldables versus like, let's say the
17:00regular S series? Well, absolutely. I mean, just having the ability to have multi screens on like
17:06your big fold where you're able to summarize notes while recording and transcribing, you know,
17:13while doing other actions on your device, you know, three, four different screens at one point in time
17:18on that unfolded phone, you know, allowing you to do, you know, a lot more to it, having that
17:24face-to-face conversation where you can just put your phone in the tent and, you know, speak one
17:29language, have it translate directly and they can see it. So you can have a face-to-face conversation
17:35with somebody with that language barrier being removed between us. And, and it really kind of makes
17:40it a much more personable experience and we're going to be bringing even more to the device.
17:44Cool. In terms of just form factors, I know that Samsung display has teased a triple foldable
17:49before, which I think is very interesting when I got to play around with it in person.
17:53What do you think of that particular form factor? Can you say whether or not you're exploring it and
17:58maybe what advantages it might have over the regular fold? You know, I would love to tell you
18:04all that I know of these kinds of things, but what I can say is that we're looking at every
18:11single
18:11possibility of what a phone's going to look like, you know, a year from now, five years from now,
18:1610 years from now, and what are the features and benefits of those different form factors.
18:22What we do know is that phones are going to evolve. They have, you know, over the last 15 years
18:27when
18:28Samsung pushed the envelope with a six inch, you know, plus display and nobody's going to like that.
18:33It's way too big of a phone. And now you can't find one under that, but it's something that we're
18:38going to, you know, look at all of those different opportunities. We are uniquely positioned with
18:44our displays, with our engineering, with all the different things that Samsung does
18:48to really push the envelope on new form factors. And I would expect without knowing much of the
18:55future that, you know, Samsung would be first to innovate within those spaces.
19:00Okay. So one last question when it comes to the future, we were talking about five years from now,
19:0410 years from now. So let's say it's 2035. Are we still carrying around smartphones or do we maybe
19:10transition to smart glasses? And like, what do you feel like is next for the category? Is it going to,
19:16is the smartphone going to stick around?
19:19The smartphone will stick around in one form or another. I wish I had that, you know, crystal ball
19:25to be able to look into it. I'm really excited. I think with AI getting better with chipsets,
19:34you know, kind of getting better, different battery technologies out there, it's going to
19:39fundamentally evolve the smartphone as we understand it today. I think foldables really kind of starts
19:46the role of that in not only understanding different form factors, but how people can utilize them.
19:54So gosh, 2035, I don't even know how old I'll be at that point in time, hopefully retired. But
20:04I'm really excited just knowing that we're going to be able to do so much more with our devices.
20:11Go back to that, you know, seamless action across apps is just being able to talk into your phone and
20:17get the information and do the actions that you want to do just with your voice, right? That alone
20:22as that evolves and can touch every single app on your device. So, you know, I, I think we're going
20:29to have a more personalized experience with our devices and how that's going to come through on a form
20:35factor. Your guess is as good as mine. Yeah. That makes sense though, that AI over time both like
20:40into it, what you're looking for, as opposed to have to being prompted. Exactly. And you see that
20:46we, we kicked that off with S25 with the now brief and the now bar, right? So as you use
20:51your device
20:52more, it's understanding, you know, it, it takes some of that information, stores it in your own
20:57personal data core, completely locked down, encrypted, you know, can't get to it, but it's
21:02understanding the things that are meaningful to you and the actions that you're taking. And then it's saying
21:08things like suggesting routines. Hey, Mark, you're doing this all the time. Maybe we should just turn
21:14that into a routine for you. So you don't have to do those 13 clicks every single day over and
21:19over
21:20again, or your favorite team is coming on. Hey, they're about to play in 15 minutes. So it's already
21:26starting to learn about what it is that's important to you and then provide you the information before
21:33you go and look for it. And that's only going to get better and more accurate and more efficient over
21:38time.
21:39Well, on behalf of me and everyone else watching this video today, thanks, Blake, for your time today.
21:43If you learned something new or just love seeing how the tech world ticks, make sure to hit that like
21:46button and subscribe and let me know in the comments who we should interview here on the channel next.
21:51For Tom's Guide, this is Mark Spoonhour.
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