The 9 most unbelievable Android news stories of 2025

Everyone from Google and Samsung to OnePlus and Xiaomi made headlines sooner or later in 2025. Most of these headlines had been anticipated, similar to Samsung’s conservative Galaxy S25 sequence and the well-received Pixel 9a.

However, 2025 additionally noticed greater than its fair proportion of headlines that had been merely laborious to imagine. So with that in thoughts, we’re having a look at some of the most unbelievable stories of the 12 months.

Samsung has supplied the S Pen on the Galaxy Ultra line since 2022’s Galaxy S22 Ultra, and the accent has been battling for area with the battery ever since. At this level, I assumed the corporate’s solely viable choices had been to double down on the S Pen’s significance or ditch it altogether.

It was an surprising determination to me, as I assumed Samsung would both retain the characteristic to appease Ultra followers or ditch it and use the additional area for different options (e.g., a much bigger battery). But alas, we bought this fence-sitting transfer.

We completely reported in 2024 that the Pixel 10 sequence would have an IMG PowerVR DXT-48-1536 GPU, after years of utilizing Arm’s widespread Mali graphics. I anticipated this to be a downgrade for emulation, however this proved to be a downgrade in a number of methods for Pixel telephones.

Our personal Pixel 10 benchmarks revealed that the Tensor G5 processor had higher peak GPU efficiency than the Pixel 9 and its Tensor G4 chip. However, the older telephone supplied extra steady efficiency and decrease temperatures in stress assessments. Meanwhile, colleague Rob Triggs confirmed that the Pixel 10 was a catastrophe for emulation in comparison with the Pixel 9 sequence.

Of course, there’s extra to a GPU than sustained efficiency and emulation. The good news is that the overwhelming majority of video games run simply effective, if not higher than on the Pixel 9 sequence, and up to date GPU driver updates have improved efficiency. Still, we’re taking a look at a step again from 2024’s Pixels in just a few methods. And it’s not like these older telephones had top-tier silicon within the first place.

Google has lengthy proven that it’s not afraid to ruffle just a few feathers in relation to the Android OS itself. Unfortunately, it ruffled the entire chicken in 2025. For one, the corporate introduced controversial modifications to sideloading in August. More particularly, Google would confirm the identities of Android app builders in a bid to thwart malware. This meant Android would bar customers from putting in apps by unverified builders, even when these apps had been on various app shops.

This determination ignited a firestorm, and customers criticized Google for making an attempt to vary one of Android’s key options. Alternative app retailer F-Droid sharply criticized the search big for claiming that sideloading wouldn’t go away, as builders now have to have Google’s blessing within the first place (regardless of the app supply). Thankfully, Google relented considerably and introduced a brand new “advanced flow” for customers who need to set up unverified apps within the first place.

This wasn’t the one time Google caught flak for modifications to Android in 2025. The firm additionally made technical modifications to Android growth that make it tougher for builders to make customized ROMs on Pixel telephones. It’s clearly getting tougher and tougher to tinker along with your telephone.

One of my favourite stories of the 12 months can also be one of the most surprising. A Chinese developer launched the primary PlayStation 3 emulator in early 2025, dubbed aPS3e, though there was some controversy over the supply code. However, one other workforce adopted up with the RPCS3-Android emulator, which has successfully been renamed RPCSX-UI-Android.

This was an unexpected flip of occasions as a result of the PlayStation 3 is a technically demanding console to emulate on PC, not to mention smartphones. I assumed we’d be ready rather a lot longer to see PS3 emulators on cellular.

To be honest, the most superior video games don’t work proper now, so that you aren’t going to play Killzone 2 or the Uncharted video games. But I can nonetheless play 3D Dot Game Heroes and Afterburner Climax on an Android gadget. I might’ve referred to as you delusional should you advised me this a 12 months in the past.

Another large story in 2025 was the continued saga of Pixel telephones experiencing battery points. It began with the innocuously named Battery Performance Program replace for choose Pixel 4a fashions, which dramatically decreased battery life. Google supplied compensation for affected customers or a free battery alternative, however didn’t reveal the particular subject. Then the Australian shopper watchdog issued an alert, lastly revealing that some Pixel 4a items had been in danger of overheating batteries.

It didn’t finish right here. Some Pixel 6a items additionally obtained this battery-nerfing replace resulting from faulty batteries, prompting the Australian and UK shopper watchdogs to submit alerts. We even noticed reviews of not less than 5 Pixel 6a fires that will have been resulting from this subject. Google additionally acknowledged that some Pixel 7a items have battery swelling issues, prompting the corporate to supply a free battery alternative.

Google’s questionable battery practices prolonged to new telephones. The agency introduced that its Battery Health Assistance (BHA) characteristic is now necessary on the Pixel 9a and Pixel 10 sequence. This “feature” throttles battery capability and charging pace over time on high of common battery degradation. I might perceive one faulty gadget, however the sheer quantity of affected telephones, Google’s BHA characteristic, and the dearth of transparency usually made for a deeply regarding and surprising story.

Samsung’s earlier Galaxy Z Fold fashions have all been very chunky and comparatively heavy in comparison with the competitors. So should you advised me a 12 months in the past that the Galaxy Z Fold 7 can be the lightest and thinnest book-style foldable, I wouldn’t have believed you.

But that’s virtually precisely what occurred with the Galaxy Z Fold 7, because it’s the lightest Fold gadget available on the market. In reality, Samsung’s telephone may additionally be the thinnest Fold available on the market as a result of rival manufacturers use doubtful measurement strategies. Will Samsung deliver this similar magic to the Galaxy S26 sequence? I’m not relying on it.

I count on Google to be first with new software program tips, however I don’t suppose of the Pixel maker as a {hardware} innovator. So colour me shocked when it emerged that the Pixel 10 Pro Fold was the world’s first foldable telephone with an IP68 score for mud and water resistance. Not Samsung, Xiaomi, HONOR, or vivo, however Google. Yes, this sturdiness score got here on the expense of a skinny design, but it surely’s nonetheless an enormous achievement for foldable telephones.

Google additionally grew to become the second Android model to supply Qi2 magnets in its telephones with the Pixel 10 sequence. By distinction, telephones just like the Galaxy S25 Ultra and OnePlus 13 required a separate case should you needed to make use of magnetically connected chargers and equipment. Furthermore, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold was the primary foldable telephone with Qi2 magnets.

The firm’s {hardware} innovation additionally prolonged to different product strains, because it made the Pixel Watch 4 and Pixel Buds 2a repairable. This was significantly nice news for the Pixel Watch 4, as earlier Pixel Watches couldn’t be repaired in any respect. Seriously.

OnePlus typically produces good and even nice flagship telephones, however these units typically fall behind their rivals in phrases of digital camera high quality and/or IP scores. You solely want to try the OnePlus 11 and 12 for proof of this.

Color us stunned with the OnePlus 13, then. Colleagues Ryan Haines and C Scott Brown each praised the telephone when it was launched globally in January 2025. In reality, Scott mentioned in April that this was already his telephone of the 12 months.

Better but, we collectively picked the OnePlus 13 as our Android Authority telephone of the 12 months, breaking a number of years of Pixel dominance. We actually couldn’t have predicted this again in January. It’s only a disgrace that the OnePlus 15 upped the battery ante however delivered a compromised digital camera expertise.

I’ve been monitoring the event of silicon-carbon batteries for some time now, and 2025 was the primary 12 months when the tech was embraced by a spread of telephone makers. This know-how allows extra capability for a similar bodily battery dimension or a smaller bodily dimension with out affecting battery capability. This resulted in high-end telephones with 5,500mAh to six,500mAh batteries, just like the OnePlus 13, vivo X200 Pro, realme GT7 Pro, and OPPO Find X8 Pro.

What I didn’t foresee was that smartphone makers would rapidly and dramatically improve the dimensions of their flagship telephone batteries. The OnePlus 15 incorporates a 7,300mAh battery, whereas the realme GT8 Pro gives a 7,000mAh battery, and the OPPO Find X9 Pro boasts a 7,500mAh battery. I actually anticipated many flagship telephones to stay with 5,500mAh to six,500mAh batteries for some time but.

In saying so, Samsung and Google haven’t embraced silicon-carbon batteries simply but. So don’t be stunned if future Galaxy and Pixel handsets supply extra pedestrian battery capacities.