The MacRumors Show: Samsung's 2025 Challenge to Apple

The MacRumors Show is back for 2025! On this week's episode, we look at how Samsung's latest announcements challenge Apple.


Samsung this week announced the Galaxy S25, the Galaxy S25+, and the top-of-the-line Galaxy S25 Ultra. The new devices will directly compete with Apple's iPhone 16 and upcoming iPhone 17 lineup.

Similar to the ‌iPhone 16‌, AI is a major focus for the S25 lineup, with Samsung touting a new "Personal Data Engine" with a Dynamic Island-like "Now Bar" with a "Now Brief" that guides users through their day, Circle to Search, generative photo editing, context-aware searches with suggested actions, improved natural language understanding, third-party integrations via Gemini, Portrait Studio, and more.

Samsung also previewed the all-new "Galaxy S25 Edge," a super-thin variant of the S25 set to launch in the first half of 2025. It appears to be positioned as a direct rival to Apple's upcoming "iPhone 17 Air," which is expected to be the thinnest iPhone ever at just 6mm and a radical departure from previous devices with a 6.6-inch display with ProMotion, a single speaker, a single rear camera, and Apple's custom 5G modem.

Finally, Samsung unveiled its upcoming "Project Moohan" AR/VR headset, which it has designed in collaboration with Google. It is intended to compete with Apple's Vision Pro and bears a striking similarity to it in terms of design.

The MacRumors Show also has its own YouTube channel, so make sure you're subscribed to keep up with new episodes and clips.

You can also listen to ‌The MacRumors Show‌ on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or your preferred podcasts app. You can also copy our RSS feed directly into your podcast player.


If you haven't already listened to the previous episode of The MacRumors Show, catch up for our discussion about all of Apple's expected hardware announcements for 2025.

Subscribe to ‌The MacRumors Show‌ for new episodes every week, where we discuss some of the topical news breaking here on MacRumors, often joined by interesting guests such as Kevin Nether, Jon Prosser, Luke Miani, Matthew Cassinelli, Brian Tong, Quinn Nelson, Jared Nelson, Eli Hodapp, Mike Bell, Sara Dietschy, iJustine, Jon Rettinger, Andru Edwards, Arnold Kim, Ben Sullins, Marcus Kane, Christopher Lawley, Frank McShan, David Lewis, Tyler Stalman, Sam Kohl, John Gruber, Federico Viticci, Thomas Frank, Jonathan Morrison, Ross Young, Ian Zelbo, and Rene Ritchie.

‌The MacRumors Show‌ is on X @MacRumorsShow, so be sure to give us a follow to keep up with the podcast. You can also head over to The MacRumors Show forum thread to engage with us directly. Remember to rate and review the podcast, and let us know what subjects and guests you would like to see in the future.

Popular Stories

iphone 17 dummies sonny dickson

iPhone 17 Air Almost as Thin as Its Buttons, New Images Show

Thursday April 24, 2025 2:14 am PDT by
If you missed the video showing dummy models of Apple's all-new super thin iPhone 17 Air that's expected later this year, Sonny Dickson this morning shared some further images of the device in close alignment with the other dummy models in the iPhone 17 lineup, indicating just how thin it is likely to be in comparison. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be around 5.5mm thick – with a thicker ...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 13 New Features

Wednesday April 23, 2025 8:31 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
iphone 17 air dummy unbox therapy

iPhone 17 Air's Extreme Thinness Demoed in New Video

Tuesday April 22, 2025 10:22 am PDT by
Apple plans to release an all-new super thin iPhone this year, debuting it alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We've seen pictures of dummy models, cases, and renders with the design, but Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox Therapy today showed off newer dummy models that give us a better idea of just how thin the "iPhone 17 Air" will be. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be ...
AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Friday April 18, 2025 5:16 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
ipad air windows 11 arm

M2 iPad Air Runs Windows 11 ARM via Emulation, Thanks to EU Rules

Tuesday April 22, 2025 5:01 am PDT by
A developer has demonstrated Windows 11 ARM running on an M2 iPad Air using emulation, which has become much easier since the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulations came into effect. As spotted by Windows Latest, NTDev shared an instance of the emulation on social media and posted a video on YouTube (embedded below) demonstrating it in action. The achievement relies on new EU regulatory...
iPhone 17 Air Pastel Feature

iPhone 17 Air Launching Later This Year With These 16 New Features

Thursday April 24, 2025 8:24 am PDT by
While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the ultra-thin device. Overall, the iPhone 17 Air sounds like a mixed bag. While the device is expected to have an impressively thin and light design, rumors indicate it will have some compromises compared to iPhone 17 Pro models, including only a single rear camera, a...
Global Close Your Rings Day Pin

Apple Stores Giving Away a Limited-Edition Pin For Free Today

Thursday April 24, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Starting today, April 24, Apple Stores around the world are giving away a special pin for free to customers who request one, while supplies last. Photo Credit: Filip Chudzinski The enamel pin's design is inspired by the Global Close Your Rings Day award in the Activity app, which Apple Watch users can receive by closing all three Activity rings today. The limited-edition pin is the physical...
Apple Logo Spotlight Blue

White House Hits Back at Apple's Massive EU Fine

Thursday April 24, 2025 5:57 am PDT by
Apple's $570 million fine from the EU has triggered a sharp rebuke from the White House, which called the fine a form of economic extortion, Reuters reports. The fine was announced on Wednesday by the European Commission, following a formal investigation into Apple's compliance with the bloc's Digital Markets Act (DMA), a landmark piece of legislation aimed at curbing the market dominance of ...

Top Rated Comments

8667132 Avatar
13 weeks ago

Samsung has all the AI Apple promises for this year and next year now. It’s working in all languages. The galaxy is also 40% faster in AI as Apple’s iPhone 16 pro. I really think it’s peak iPhone from now because Apple is stuck on a braindead Siri. Don’t see Siri improving soon and definitely not in different languages. I think Apple is about two years behind and the gap is widening.
Honestly, it feels like Apples software department needs gutting from the top down.

I get that it's never a good thing to pander to shareholder demands and rush software. Rushing software just doesn't work. Everything feels like its built on sand now, with completely unnecessary features that no one wants being given preference over fixing and finishing useful things from the last few years that were 'rushed' out and seem incomplete.

There are so many bugs and quirks that have existed in MacOS and iOS for years now and will probably never ever get resolved because the focus is put onto updates that don't real create any value to the operating system but create $$$ through buzz words on the stock market.

And let's not forget that software has had 'AI' for years. It was just called 'features' before, but that didn't create market hysteria.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cocky jeremy Avatar
13 weeks ago

Samsung has all the AI Apple promises for this year and next year now. It’s working in all languages. The galaxy is also 40% faster in AI as Apple’s iPhone 16 pro. I really think it’s peak iPhone from now because Apple is stuck on a braindead Siri. Don’t see Siri improving soon and definitely not in different languages. I think Apple is about two years behind and the gap is widening.
Luckily, most people don't care and will never use any of the AI features anyway.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
harmonthe3rd Avatar
13 weeks ago

Luckily, most people don't care and will never use any of the AI features anyway.
I beg to differ. Most people didn't care about a camera on their phone, nor did Kodak care about cell phones with cameras. Things change as people evolve how they use their devices. Google had the Nexus with NFC chip for payments back in 2010. People didn't care. Apple released Apple Pay in 2014, some people cared, most didn't. Now in 2025 people complain if a retailer doesn't take Apple Pay. Can't discount what features people want or don't want at any given time.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HJM.NL Avatar
13 weeks ago
Samsung has all the AI Apple promises for this year and next year now. It’s working in all languages. The galaxy is also 40% faster in AI as Apple’s iPhone 16 pro. I really think it’s peak iPhone from now because Apple is stuck on a braindead Siri. Don’t see Siri improving soon and definitely not in different languages. I think Apple is about two years behind and the gap is widening.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Joshuaorange Avatar
13 weeks ago
At this point, they’re so similar they may as well merge, name the new company Sample and sell 347 VR headsets a year.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
citysnaps Avatar
13 weeks ago

10 years ago, which was almost the iPhone 8 which had the nueral processor. Some type of ml and ai has been in phones for many years in albeit small quantities.
Spot-on. Going back years I could do a Finder search through my thousands of photos for people, cars, dogs, buildings, red, etc , etc. and it would almost instantly find all of them.

This was before AI was in the public consciousness.

Cracks me up that many people really believe Apple is doomed. Again.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)