It’s been a pretty quiet week in the US market as far as smartphones are concerned, but Apple unveiled the M5 chipset and launched three new products with it. But let’s start with the phone and with no new launches, we turn to the usual suspects.
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Edge has reportedly been cancelled, to be replaced with the Galaxy S26+ – a phone that was once rumored to be canceled itself. So, the Galaxy S25 Edge could be Samsung’s thinnest phone for a while. It’s not as capable as its S25+ sibling, but at least it’s a lot cheaper.
Here is the Samsung Galaxy S25+ for reference. You can check out our head-to-head article for an in-depth look at how the S25+ and S25 Edge compare.
The Nothing Phone (3) is another experiment with a questionable result – no attempt to break into the flagship market. It certainly has its strengths, but it’s not up to competing with top models from other manufacturers. It’s cheaper than the phone, though, so things like the LTPS display and average battery life don’t hurt much. And it still has a versatile triple 50MP camera, mostly clean UI, good speakers and a very bright 6.67” 120Hz OLED display.
You can accessorize it with the Nothing Headphones (1), which have the same white and transparent look (although black and transparent is also an option). It’s quite heavy, but offers excellent sound quality and active noise cancellation. Build quality is also great.
Alternatively, the CMF Headphone Pro is more “normal” in appearance and is much cheaper – even with the discount on headphones (1), this price is less than half. We are working on a review for the CMF headphones, but first impressions are great.
The Motorola Razr 2025 has been at $600 for a while now and this week is no different. This discount is no longer sufficient.
The Motorola Razr+ 2025 uses some older hardware (it’s a re-release of the Razr Ultra 2024 but with an improved IP rating), but now has a hefty discount that puts it at the same $600 price as the vanilla Razr 2025. With the Plus model you get faster Usnapdragon and Us40F3 storage. (vs. Dimensity 7400X and UFS 2.2) plus a 50MP 2x telephoto camera (vs. 13MP 120° ultra-wide). The battery is smaller (4,000mAh vs. 4,500mAh) but there’s a slight lead in charging (45W wired vs. 30W, wireless charging is 15W on both phones).
There’s always a new Ultra, which has settled on the $1,000 mark. The Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 beats its predecessor (and thus the Plus) with a Snapdragon 8 Elite and a larger 50MP sensor (1/1.56” vs. 1/1.95”) in the main camera. It also has a big, fast battery – 4,700mAh with 68W wired and 30W wireless charging.
Of course, the Ultra competes with the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7, which costs less. Note that the US model this year uses the same Exynos 2500 as the rest of the world model. The 50MP main camera has the same size 1/1.57″ sensor and is joined by a 12MP ultra-wide module. The 4,300mAh battery is slow to charge at 25W wired and 15W wirelessly.
You can save some money by going with the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 FE. This is the second re-release of the 2024 model, although Samsung has changed the chipset – the Z Flip6’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is gone, replaced by the Exynos 2400. You can read more about how the Z Flip7 FE compares to the Z Flip7 for a closer look at what you’re paying to save the $12FE model.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 has a solid discount of $400, which puts it under $200 from its rival, the newly launched Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold. We haven’t reviewed the Pixel yet, but we’ve done the rest of the Pixel 10 series and we can already tell you that the Tensor G5 is no match for the Snapdragon 8 Elite (yes, the Z Fold7, unlike the Z Flip7, uses a Qualcomm chip). The Pixel Foldable is also thicker (10.8mm vs. 8.9mm) and heavier (258g vs. 215g), though it has a bigger battery (5,015mAh vs. 4,400mAh).
As we mentioned in the opening paragraph, Apple introduced the M5 chipset and upgraded the iPad Pro 11” and 13” models with it. They also use other Apple chips – the N1 and C1X – so they have Wi-Fi 7 connectivity. Additionally, the USB-C port now features adaptive sync (variable refresh rate) up to 120Hz when connected to a compatible display (check your TV, many OLEDs support this).
Apple has also revamped the MacBook Pro with a new 14″ model. However, this uses Broadcom chips for wireless connectivity, so it only has Wi-Fi 6E. Aside from the new chipset, the new Apple MacBook Pro 14″ is largely identical to its M4 predecessor.
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