News

Samsung Galaxy S25 Unpacked: Everything Announced At The Event

The S25, S25 Plus, and S25 Ultra were unveiled at the event, along with plenty of new AI features and a teaser for the incoming S25 Edge.

Published

2 years ago

January 23, 2025

Nour Nasir

Samsung

Samsung has kicked off 2025 with its first Unpacked event debuting the Galaxy S25 series. While this year’s lineup doesn’t boast groundbreaking hardware upgrades, the company doubled down on integrating smarter AI features into its devices, promising a more personalized experience.

Here’s a breakdown of everything announced by the Korean tech giant:

Galaxy S25 Ultra

The Galaxy S25 Ultra — Samsung’s flagship powerhouse — sports a 6.9-inch display and a frame with more rounded edges for improved comfort and grip. Samsung also claims it’s their “slimmest, lightest, and most durable Ultra device yet,” thanks to a titanium frame and Corning’s Gorilla Armor 2.

The most notable hardware change is a new ultrawide camera, upgraded from 12MP to 50MP. Like the rest of the lineup, the S25 Ultra is powered by a customized Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, enabling more efficient on-device AI processing.

Interestingly, Samsung has removed Air Commands from the S Pen, citing low usage rates. This change reduced the device’s weight while making the stylus sturdier.

The Ultra comes with 12GB of RAM and storage options of 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. Prices start at $1,300.

Galaxy S25 And S25+

The Galaxy S25 and S25+ retain much of their predecessors’ design and specs, including 6.2-inch and 6.7-inch displays, respectively. However, like the Ultra, both models now pack 12GB of RAM, up from 8GB in last year’s versions. The Snapdragon 8 Elite processor also powers these devices, ensuring smoother handling of Samsung’s AI-driven features.

One of these new tools, ProScaler AI, promises to improve image quality in real-time, potentially compensating for the unchanged display hardware.

Like its predecessor, the S25 offers 128GB or 256GB storage, while the S25+ comes in 256GB or 512GB configurations. Pricing starts at $800 for the S25 and $1,000 for the S25+.

AI Takes Center Stage

Since the S25 lineup sees only modest hardware upgrades this year, Samsung showed off its software, branding its One UI 7 on Android 15 as a new AI-integrated OS.

AI enhancements improve low-light photography and video by reducing noise. A new feature, Audio Eraser, can eliminate background sounds like wind or chatter from your videos. Samsung has also bundled its AI tools into the Personal Data Engine, which powers features like AI Select.

A new “Now Bar” — similar to Apple’s Dynamic Island — has been added to the bottom of the lock screen, and will serve up context-driven reminders and summaries, while the revamped Drawing Assist tool offers better precision and lets users incorporate their own images.

Galaxy S25 Edge Teaser

Samsung teased the Galaxy S25 Edge, which is rumored to be a slimmer alternative to the Ultra. While details were sparse, the event teaser highlighted the upcoming device’s vapor chamber, camera modules, and metallic design.

Samsung Wallet Updates

Samsung introduced new features to its Wallet app, including Instant Installment, a buy-now-pay-later service that manages offline payment plans for Visa and Mastercard purchases. Another addition, Tap to Transfer, is a peer-to-peer payment system allowing users to transfer money by simply bumping phones.

Galaxy Watch For Kids

Finally, Samsung announced a child-friendly mode for the Galaxy Watch 7, comparable to the Apple Watch feature. Parents can set up a child’s watch with an eSIM, manage apps, and enable location tracking. The system also includes kid-focused apps and customizable watch faces, adding a layer of fun for younger users.

News

Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.