As another year draws to a close, it’s time to take stock: to look back at the last 12 months and forward to the coming year. Here, we’re going to look specifically at Samsung, one of the biggest tech companies on the planet and the manufacturer responsible for many of the most notable gadgets of 2024 (and many components in other non-Samsung gadgets, too).
It’s been a really, really busy year for Samsung. We’ve had the usual flurry of smartphones, laptops, and TVs, and the company has even found time to launch a new smart ring and a new high-end smartwatch.
Which of these products impressed us here at TechRadar, and which didn’t? Let’s dig in.
The Samsung hits of 2024
There’s been a lot of good from Samsung this year. Of the flagship phones launched in January, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra was undoubtedly the highlight: we described it as a phone that “offers more than any other phone and somehow manages to improve upon last year’s Ultra in every way” in our Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review (while awarding it 4.5 stars out of 5).
Later in the year, we were just as impressed with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6. Our Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 review calls it “an excellent foldable” that takes the form factor “closer to perfection”: it’s powerful, well-built, versatile, and, of course, very expensive (4.5 stars out of 5 again). We also liked the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6, though perhaps not enough to call it a hit.
Teased at the Galaxy S24 reveal in January and then launched alongside the foldables unveiled in July, we had the Samsung Galaxy Ring. This undoubtedly classes as a hit, due to the quality of the device itself and the hype built around it. The best smart ring market needed a shake-up, and the Galaxy Ring certainly provided it – the wearable got 4.5 stars out of 5 in our Samsung Galaxy Ring review.
Speaking of almost perfect review scores, the same rating was earned by the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra, which definitely qualifies as a hit for Samsung in 2024. The MacBook Pro rival was described as “excellent” in terms of its build quality, performance, and battery life in our Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra review. At the same time, we were also very impressed with the 16-inch OLED screen (something of a specialty for Samsung).
It was a strong year for Samsung regarding televisions, too: the Samsung S95D OLED TV won our TV of the Year award, and we called it the “very pinnacle of OLED TV” in our 5-star Samsung S95D review. A shout out for the Samsung Odyssey OLED G8, which also earned the full 5-star rating in our Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 review – it’s an astoundingly good 4K gaming monitor.
All in all, it was an impressive year for Samsung. Most of its flagship products landed strong reviews from the tech press and users, and the company once again managed to remain very competitive in multiple different product categories – even finding time to launch a bunch of new Galaxy AI features for its smartphones.
The Samsung misses of 2024
It wasn’t all good news for Samsung in 2024. While we wouldn’t describe any of its product launches as flops exactly, the company had low points and high points throughout the year – the continual sniping at Apple through adverts isn’t a great look, for example. You’re better than this, Samsung.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra was something of a miss for Samsung this year, even though our Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra review is largely positive. The battery life isn’t great, it doesn’t bring a whole lot with it in terms of new features, and you can tell it’s trying its best to rip off the Apple Watch Ultra 2 – which is one reason why Samsung shouldn’t be using its marketing budget to accuse Apple of not innovating.
There are a couple of software misses to mention. The Samsung One UI 6.1 software update caused several significant bugs on older phones that took a while to fix, while the Samsung One UI 7.0 update (based on Android 15) was a long time coming – and was delayed several times if the rumors are to be believed. The beta version is out now and should finally be pushed out to the masses in January.
It’s not a bad 2024 record at all for Samsung, and while it may not have shifted quite as many smartphones as it would’ve liked if you look across the Samsung product reviews on TechRadar, you’ll see that they’re mostly all positive. It’s in a reasonably strong position as it goes into 2025.
What to expect from Samsung in 2025
As we look ahead to what the next year has in store for Samsung, it’s more of the same – plus the introduction of some brand new product categories for 2025. We’ll likely see the Samsung Galaxy S25 series launched in January, with three models again rumored to be on the way. Expect more RAM, faster speeds, and most probably a bunch of new AI features with One UI 7.0.
At the same January Unpacked event, there’s talk that the long-rumored Samsung Smart Glasses might make an appearance, too – though it doesn’t sound as though they’ll be going on sale until much later in the year. These smart glasses are tipped to be similar to the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses in style and functionality, and we’re also expecting a larger Samsung XR/VR headset at some point.
Around the middle of the year, we’re almost certainly going to get the Samsung Galaxy Fold 7 and the Samsung Galaxy Flip 7. We’ve heard that Samsung will be expanding its foldable line-up during 2025 as well, perhaps with a cheaper flip foldable and maybe a pricier tri-fold foldable to compete directly with the Huawei Mate XT. All these foldables could be announced at another Unpacked around July time.
The middle of the year is a good bet for the Galaxy Watch 8 and perhaps even a Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 – though Samsung might decide the Galaxy Watch Ultra is fine for another year. The same goes for the Samsung Galaxy Ring: it’s possible that we’ll see a Galaxy Ring 2 at some point during 2025, but it doesn’t necessarily need an upgrade (as mentioned above, we gave it 4.5 stars out of 5 in our Samsung Galaxy Ring review).
Away from mobiles and wearables, look out for more updates to the Galaxy Book series of laptops – though we’ve heard little in the way of leaks and rumors around new models. We will get new and improved Samsung TVs as well, but again, we’re not too sure what to expect: the only leak of note to date has been around giant 83-inch QD-OLEDs. There should be a flurry of announcements at CES 2025 in January to tell us more.
The One UI software should also start appearing on more TVs and speaking of software, expect a lot more from Galaxy AI. There’s no hotter field in technology right now, and Samsung will want to make sure it’s keeping pace with the likes of OpenAI, Google, and Apple in this department. Look out for a major Bixby AI upgrade as well. Samsung will undoubtedly be busy across all its other product categories, from gaming monitors to refrigerators. There’s a lot to look forward to.