Latest news with #KadeshBeckford
News18
20-05-2025
- Business
- News18
Did iPhone 17 Air Inspire Samsung To Make The Galaxy S25 Edge? Company Gives The Answer
Last Updated: Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge features a thin design with premium features and hardware but was it made after hearing news about the iPhone 17 Air model? Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge is the company's thinnest model ever, featuring a sleek design and a lightweight profile. Following its launch, rumours claimed the Galaxy S25 Edge design was inspired by Apple's rumoured iPhone17 Air model that is expected to be thinner than the Samsung version. However, the South Korean brand has now clarified that the iPhone 17 Air had no influence on the development of the S25 Edge. In fact, its product origins start a few years before we first heard about the iPhone 17 Air model. Not Inspired Kadesh Beckford, Samsung product specialist, recently told Forbes that he had known about the Galaxy S25 Edge since the launch week of the Galaxy Z Flip 5 in August 2023. While he didn't confirm exactly when the design reached the concept stage, he talked about the product going through multiple rounds of internal research and development. Beckford noted that while slim phones aren't new, combining ultra thin design with premium features and specs remains a rare achievement in the smartphone industry. 'It is not linked to the iPhone 17 Air. To create this phone, we had to rethink every component to fit inside a thinner casing, which is no easy task," he said. To make the 'slimmest Galaxy S," the company removed every component to fit it into a smaller space. Company Tells Why S25 Edge Launched So why did Samsung decide to bring a thin device? Beckford said the company's market research guided it towards customers who want some Galaxy S25 Ultra characteristics without the weight of an 'ultra' phone, which explains the 200MP camera, Snapdragon 8 Elite (the full eight-core version) chipset, and a titanium frame. The Galaxy S25 Edge, like the other Galaxy S25 models, features AI agents that function smoothly across numerous apps, making it a real AI-compatible phone. The company has also partnered with Google to bring Gemini's latest capabilities to the phone. The Galaxy S25 Edge price in India starts at Rs 1,09,999 for the base variant and goes up to Rs 1,21,999 if you want the 512GB model. First Published: May 20, 2025, 12:47 IST
Digital Trends
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
Bond or Batman? Why the Galaxy S25 Edge is a phone for cool characters
'I call it the James Bond phone,' Samsung's Annika Bizon, vice president of mobile product and marketing in the U.K. and Ireland, told Digital Trends during a conversation about the new Galaxy S25 Edge shortly after its announcement. 'I call it the Bruce Wayne phone.' Samsung's smartphone specialist product manager Kadesh Beckford said later in the same call. Recommended Videos Why did these names come up, and how do they relate to the new, slimline smartphone? It turns out, understanding why the comparisons were drawn is key to understanding the Galaxy S25 Edge itself, and Samsung's daring plan with it. A statement maker I really wanted to understand who Samsung has made the Galaxy S25 Edge — a 5.8mm, 163 gram flagship smartphone — for, and spoke at length about it with Bizon and Beckford during an online conversation soon after the phone's announcement. 'Samsung has seen people want lightness, slimness, and to know they have the very best technology in their device,' Bizon explained. 'The S25 Edge is for people who want to make a statement, and it blows my mind how we've managed to fit so much into such a small space. I call it the James Bond of phones. He would only have the coolest of phones.' While the comparison with a cool character makes sense, what she said next showed while Bond would be a great fit for the S25 Edge, the phone has been positioned and pitched quite differently to other Samsung mobile devices. 'We've looked at the younger market,' Bizon said, 'but we don't know who else it will be for yet, and that's exciting. We've done the research to find there's demand, so we've got the foundations, but we've got to learn who's buying it, what they're using it for, and how they're enjoying it.' A phone with presence The more we talked about the Galaxy S25 Edge, the more delightfully experimental it sounded. Not in terms of its technology, but how it fits into Samsung's range of devices, and the people the company expects it to appeal to. It's how Batman entered the conversation. 'I call it the Bruce Wayne phone,' Beckford laughed, 'In Jet Black it'd match up with the Batmobile really well.' Beckford continued to say what the phone means to him, and his own reference to a well-known character related more to the S25 Edge's presence than its coolness. 'It allows me to make a statement. You put an S25 Edge down on the table, and it means something.' Beckford gave some deep insight into how the Galaxy S25 Edge enters new territory for Samsung: 'Our Galaxy S25 Ultra and Galaxy Z Fold 6 phones are called 'Life Maximizers,' he said, 'while the base Galaxy S25, S25 Plus, and FE phones are 'Social Expressers. What's happening is we're seeing people who want a bit of both. They want to express themselves, but they also want the power and performance from a Life Maximizer phone brings. The S25 Edge is a device that fits into both these areas.' Internal innovation It was becoming clear the S25 Edge is more than just a new entry into the S25 series, and understanding some of the engineering that went into making it sees it shift closer to the Z Fold series for innovation. Beckford talked about some of the challenges faced by the team making the phone: 'The camera module was a challenge,' he said. 'The 200-megapixel main sensor is quite thick, but we reduced it in size by 18% to fit. It means the phone is well balanced. In a confined space you usually lose performance from the processor if there's no heat dissipation. We've used special cooling and a vapor chamber to ensure the phone runs at its highest performance without overheating. These are challenges that come from making a phone this slim, but we solved them.' Why doesn't the S25 Edge have a telephoto camera? After all, the Galaxy S25 Plus has one. It goes back to the phone appealing to two usually separate groups of buyers. The main and wide-angle cameras are key on the Galaxy Z Flip 6, and the S25 Edge is as much a part of that family as it is the S Series. Beckford pointed out that although there are only two cameras, you still get a macro mode and a 2x optical quality zoom alongside them. A new direction for Samsung The Galaxy S25 Edge has elements of the technical innovation we love from Samsung's ongoing range of folding devices, blended with the mainstream appeal of its S series phones. What differentiates it is the incredible slim, lightweight body and design. Bizon ended our conversation by telling me how this has shaped her personal opinion of the S25 Edge. 'I think it's beautiful,' she said. 'It's a statement about you, I like that it's a conversation starter, and I see it stepping more into fashion and style.' She added, 'You have to be playful and quirky and do things differently to attract people.' I felt this likely best described what Samsung is hoping to achieve with the Galaxy S25 Edge. Playful, quirky, interesting, cool, fashionable, and stylish. When was the last time all of these words could be used together to describe a single mobile device? It's certainly not recently, and the fact we're using them to talk about a new Samsung — a brand few would consider daring when it comes to design — smartphone is a particular surprise. There was an air of excitement during my conversation with Bizon and Beckford. Like it was the start of something new and exciting, but also ever-so-slightly mysterious and experimental too. After playing it safe with the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Ultra, Samsung has let itself go wild with the Galaxy S25 Edge and in the best way possible it's not entirely sure where it's going to lead, which makes us like this incredibly slim phone even more.
India Today
19-05-2025
- India Today
No, the iPhone 17 Air didn't inspire the Galaxy S25 Edge: Samsung clarifies
Samsung has clarified that the iPhone 17 Air did not inspire the Galaxy S25 Edge. This lays to rest all speculation that the unannounced slim Apple iPhone had anything to do with the making of the 'slimmest Galaxy S ever.' Apparently, the idea of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge dates back to at least 2023, long before rumours of the iPhone 17 Air started to appear on the since Samsung launched the S25 Edge, the internet has been set ablaze with hot gossip that it was a copy of the iPhone 17 Air, a phone that doesn't even exist today. But what the gossip mongers failed to realise is that things take time, they just don't materialise overnight. That is especially true for a smartphone, even more so for one that is trying to be product specialist Kadesh Beckford told Forbes that he had known about the Edge since the Galaxy Z Flip 5 launch week, which was in August 2023. While not explicitly confirmed, the idea might have come even earlier and eventually, gone through multiple stages of research and development internally. You can say that slim phones are not new, but putting flagship specs and features on them is not very common, something that Beckford also make this phone, we had to redesign every component [to fit into a slimmer chassis], which isn't an easy feat,' Beckford was quoted as saying, like, say, for instance, the 200-megapixel primary camera sensor (and lens) had to be redesigned, to fit into a much smaller space than say the Galaxy S25 Ultra which uses the same Samsung executive also explained that a phone like the Galaxy S25 Edge exists because people have been asking for Galaxy S25 Ultra-like features in a relatively leaner package. This seems logical. The Edge does have a lot in common with the Ultra – it has the same Titanium alloy frame, Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, the full suite of Galaxy AI conveniences, and obviously, that 200-megapixel camera. It, too, is guaranteed to get seven generations of software Galaxy S25 Edge does all this and still comes in at 5.8mm and 163 grams. (You can read our full first impressions of the phone here.) The Galaxy S25 Ultra, on the other hand, is a gargantuan 8.2mm and 218 the time of writing, the Galaxy S25 Edge is a reality while the iPhone 17 Air is just vapourware. While it would be nice if Apple had a phone like that in the works and is gearing to launch it soon, credit where credit is due, Samsung has got its first dibs at the consumer who has been wanting it. And nobody can take that away from it.
Forbes
13-05-2025
- Forbes
Samsung Says It's Not Copying Apple iPhone 17 Air
Samsung's new Galaxy S25 Edge is the slimmest ever Galaxy phone. Samsung says Apple's iPhone 17 Air didn't factor into its decision to release the Galaxy S25 Edge, a similarly ultra-slim phone, this year. 'It's not related [to the iPhone 17 Air]. To make this phone, we had to redesign every component [to fit into a slimmer chassis], which isn't an easy feat.' Kadesh Beckford, Samsung smartphone product specialist, told me at a Galaxy S25 Edge briefing last week. The new device measures in at 5.88mm, which Samsung claims is its thinnest ever Galaxy S smartphone. To make that possible, the company broke down every component, including the 200MP camera, to squeeze it into a smaller space. Beckford explained that this takes research and development time, which started long before Apple's iPhone 17 Air rumours first surfaced. 'I've known about the Edge since the Galaxy Z Flip 5 launch week [August 2023] Despite Samsung's claim that it took no notes from Apple's rumoured device, it will likely share some similarities. Leaks claim that the iPhone 17 Air will also have a reduced camera loadout with just one 48MP lens, a thickness between 5mm and 6mm, alongside pricing that places it below the top Pro Max model. Samsung's new ultra slim Galaxy S25 Edge. If Apple's rival svelte smartphone didn't inspire Samsung, why introduce another Galaxy variant? Beckford said that the company's market research pointed it towards people who want some Galaxy S25 Ultra features without the bulk of an 'ultra' phone. Hence the 200MP camera, Snapdragon 8 Elite (the full eight-core version) chipset, and titanium frame. The Edge comes with some familiar Galaxy S25 flagship features, including the full Galaxy AI suite (and not the lesser 'awesome intelligence' toolkit found on cheaper Samsung phones), the aforementioned 200MP rear camera, which is backed up by a 12MP ultra wide lens and 12MP selfie sensor, seven years of software updates and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. The big question mark around the device is the battery life. The 3900mAh battery in the Edge is 1100mAh smaller than the Galaxy S25 Ultra's power pack. Chip efficiencies and software optimization have come a long way since slim phones were last on trend, but their poor battery life also played a role in their ultimate downfall. We'll have to see if the Galaxy S25 Edge has a similar fate, or if it can chart a new path for slim handsets that could be the new normal for future Samsung phones.
