Taking a look back at this week’s news and headlines across the Android world, including Samsung’s Galaxy S25 FE and Tab S11 Ultra launch, Pixel 10’s Battery Improvements, Honor Magic V5 success, latest Android feature drop, TCL’s NXTPAPER display, and Google’s Anti-Trust Result.
Android Circuit is here to remind you of a few of the many discussions around Android in the last seven days. You can also read my weekly digest of Apple news here on Forbes.
Here Comes The FE For The AI Crowd
Samsung has launched the fifth smartphone in the Galaxy S25 family. The budget-friendly Galaxy S25 FE sits just below the vanilla Galaxy S25 in the portfolio, but offers broadly the same feature set in software. Crucially, it will bring more consumers into the Galaxy AI ecosystem and has enough performance to deliver a similar experience:
“Galaxy S25 FE is powered by a 4nm Exynos 2400 SoC and is available with 8 GB of RAM and up to 512 GB of onboard storage. It comes with a 10% larger vapor chamber compared to the S24 FE. The phone also packs a slightly larger 4,900 mAh battery and now supports 45W charging.
(GSM Arena).
The Galaxy Tablet Is Turned To Eleven
Samsung has also revealed the new Galaxy Tab S11 and S11 Ultra tablets. The latter is a dominant 14.6-inch display paired up with Samsung Der to offer a near desktop-like experience. Meanwhile, the Tab S11 brings back the more portable 11-inch display:
“Under the hood, these tablets are powered by MediaTek Dimensity 9400+ and 12GB of RAM, or up to 16GB on the top-tier 1TB Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra. Both tablets have 45W charging, quad-speakers, an under-display fingerprint sensor, and a microSD card slot. Tab S11 has an 8,400 mAh battery while the Ultra has an 11,600 mAh battery. Both are super thin at 5mm and 5.6mm, respectively, and ship with One UI 8.”
(9to5Google).
Pixel 10 Battery Improvements
While the issues around the Battery Health Improvements restricting battery performance after 200 cycles, the teardown team at iFixit have some good news on the battery. While it’s not as easy as the Nokia your parents used to own, the battery replacement process looks to be much easier on the Pixel 10:
“There’s a green pull tab that’s part of a new “pull jacket” design. Previously, it was a sliding saw-style pull tab mechanism that you use to slice through the adhesive underneath. The majority found this approach unreliable. Google’s new jacket design just requires a firm pull — “it’s not effortless” — given that it’s “glued down tightly,” but iFixit says “better than past Pixels.”
(iFixit via 9to5Google)
Honor’s Magic Start In Europe
Last year, the Honor Magic V3 foldable accelerated up the sales charts. This year, the Magic V5, which launched last week, is climbing even faster, with Honor reporting a 75 percent uptick in sales compared to its predecessor one week after launch:
“Reportedly, both e-commerce platforms and Honor channel partners report there is a significant growth since the phone was introduced. Last year, Honor became the fastest-growing book-type foldable maker in Europe. Its market share tripled to 34%, according to a Counterpoint Research report.”
(PhoneArena).
Latest Android Feature Drop
Android users the world over will be waiting for their upgrade to Google’s new user interface for the smartphone. Alongside the visual move to Material 3 Expressive, which is starting to appear on Pixel devices, Google is also updating its AI-powered tools, including Emoji Kitchen, sharing audio and video and Gboard:
“New AI writing tools in Gboard make it easier than ever to get your message right. Just tap for an easy-to-use interface that can revise your tone to be more formal, expressive or concise. It’s simple to improve your writing further with spelling and grammar fixes, or proofread your entire message with a tap. All proofreading and rewriting of text happens on the device, which ensures your data remains private.”
(Google Keyword Blog).
TCL’s New Display Technology
What lies between the fast and vibrant OLED display and the super-readable but limiting eInk display? TCL is showcasing a potential answer at this year’s IFA conference. The NXTPAPER 60 Ultra will ship with new display technology that should sit between these two extremes and offer a comfortable viewing experience:
“The idea behind NXTPAPER is to strike a balance between e-paper and OLED screens, alleviating eye strain without sacrificing color range or refresh rates. Its hardware-level features include blue light filtering, a matte anti-glare layer and flicker-free brightness control. One of its neatest aspects is Ink Mode, which can switch into an E Ink-like presentation with the press of a dedicated button. TCL says the 2025 version of the display tech (NXTPAPER 4.0) brings sharper detail, more accurate color and AI-driven eye comfort modes.”
(Engadget).
And Finally…
A cloud has been hanging over Google; the potential remedies placed on it by the US Antitrust case. The details have now been decided. While it will have to share search details with its competitors, it will not be forced into a sale or break-up of search or browser business:
“A US judge ruled against the government’s proposals to break up Google, including a forced sale of its Chrome browser, in the biggest antitrust case in three decades. Google will have to make some concessions, including sharing online search data with rivals and ending exclusive contracts for distribution, according to the judge’s ruling.”
(Bloomberg).
Android Circuit rounds up the news from the Android world every weekend here on Forbes. Don’t forget to follow me so you don’t miss any coverage in the future, and of course, read the sister column in Apple Loop! Last week’s Android Circuit can be found here, and if you have any news and links you’d like to see featured in Android Circuit, get in touch!
