The 9 Most Incredible Android News Stories of 2025

However, 2025 also saw more than its fair share of headlines that were simply hard to believe. With that in mind, we take a look at some of the most incredible stories of the year.

Samsung has offered the S Pen on the Galaxy Ultra line since the 2022 Galaxy S22 Ultra, and the accessory has been competing for battery space ever since. At the time, I thought the company’s only viable options were to double down on the S Pen or ditch it altogether.

It was an unexpected decision for me, as I thought Samsung would keep the feature to please Ultra fans, or drop it and use the extra space for other features (e.g. a larger battery). But alas, we have this move to sit on the fence.

We exclusively reported in 2024 that the Pixel 10 series would have an IMG PowerVR DXT-48-1536 GPU, after years of using Arm’s popular Mali graphics. I expected this to be a downgrade for emulation, but this turned out to be a downgrade for Pixel phones in several ways.

Our own Pixel 10 benchmarks showed that the Tensor G5 processor had better GPU performance than the Pixel 9 and its Tensor G4 chip. However, the older phone offered more stable performance and lower temperatures in stress tests. Meanwhile, colleague Rob Triggs confirmed that the Pixel 10 was a disaster for emulation compared to the Pixel 9 series.

Of course, a GPU is more than sustainable performance and emulation. The good news is that the vast majority of games run fine, if not better than on the Pixel 9 series, and recent GPU driver updates have improved performance. Still, in some ways we’re looking at a step back from the 2024 Pixels. And it’s not like those older phones had top-tier silicon in the first place.

Google has long shown that it isn’t afraid to ruffle a few feathers when it comes to the Android operating system itself. Unfortunately, this messed things up in 2025. First, the company announced controversial changes to sideloading in August. More specifically, Google would verify the identities of Android app developers in an effort to thwart malware. This meant that Android would ban users from installing apps from unverified developers, even if these apps were on alternative app stores.

This decision caused a firestorm and users criticized Google for trying to change one of Android’s most important features. Alternative app store F-Droid has sharply criticized the search giant for claiming that sideloading would not go away because developers now need Google’s blessing in the first place (regardless of the app’s source). Luckily, Google relented somewhat and announced a new “advanced flow” for users who want to install unverified apps in the first place.

This wasn’t the only time Google was criticized for changes to Android in 2025. The company also made technical changes to Android development that make it harder for developers to create custom ROMs on Pixel phones. It’s clearly becoming increasingly difficult to tinker with your phone.

One of my favorite stories of the year is also one of the most unexpected. A Chinese developer released the first PlayStation 3 emulator in early 2025, called aPS3e, although there was some controversy over the source code. However, another team followed up with the RPCS3-Android emulator, which was actually renamed RPCSX-UI-Android.

This was an unforeseen turn of events, as the PlayStation 3 is a technically demanding console to emulate on PC, let alone smartphones. I thought we’d wait much longer to see PS3 emulators on mobile.

To be honest, the most advanced games aren’t working right now, so you’re not going to be playing Killzone 2 or the Uncharted games. But I can still play 3D Dot Game Heroes and Afterburner Climax on an Android device. I would have called you delusional if you had told me this a year ago.

Another big story in 2025 was the ongoing saga of Pixel phones having battery issues. It started with the innocently named Battery Performance Program update for select Pixel 4a models, which dramatically reduced battery life. Google offered compensation for affected users or a free battery replacement, but did not disclose the specific problem. Then Australia’s consumer watchdog issued a warning, which ultimately revealed that some Pixel 4a units were at risk of overheating the batteries.

Google’s questionable battery practices extended to new phones. The company has announced that the Battery Health Assistance (BHA) feature is now mandatory on the Pixel 9a and Pixel 10 series. This “feature” limits battery capacity and charging speed over time, in addition to normal battery degradation. I could understand one faulty device, but the sheer number of affected phones, Google’s BHA feature, and the lack of transparency in general made for a very concerning and unexpected story.

Samsung’s previous Galaxy Z Fold models were all very thick and relatively heavy compared to the competition. So if you had told me a year ago that the Galaxy Z Fold 7 would be the lightest and thinnest book-style foldable, I wouldn’t have believed you.

But that’s almost exactly what happened with the Galaxy Z Fold 7, as it’s the lightest Fold device on the market. In fact, Samsung’s phone may be the thinnest Fold on the market, as competing brands use questionable measurement methods. Will Samsung bring the same magic to the Galaxy S26 series? I’m not counting on it.

I expect Google to be the first with new software tricks, but I don’t consider the Pixel maker a hardware innovator. So I was shocked when it turned out that the Pixel 10 Pro Fold was the world’s first foldable phone with an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. Not Samsung, Xiaomi, HONOR or vivo, but Google. Yes, this durability rating came at the expense of a thin design, but it’s still a huge achievement for foldable phones.

Google also became the second Android brand to offer Qi2 magnets in its phones with the Pixel 10 series. Phones like the Galaxy S25 Ultra and OnePlus 13, on the other hand, required a separate case if you wanted to use magnetically attached chargers and accessories. Additionally, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold was the first foldable phone with Qi2 magnets.

The company’s hardware innovation also extended to other product lines, as it made the Pixel Watch 4 and Pixel Buds 2a repairable. This was especially good news for the Pixel Watch 4, as previous Pixel Watches couldn’t be repaired at all. Serious.

OnePlus generally produces good or even great flagship phones, but these devices often lag behind their competitors in terms of camera quality and/or IP ratings. For proof of this, you only have to look at the OnePlus 11 and 12.

Color us surprised with the OnePlus 13. Colleagues Ryan Haines and C Scott Brown both praised the phone when it launched globally in January 2025. Scott even said in April that this was already his phone of the year.

Better yet, we collectively selected the OnePlus 13 as our Android Authority Phone of the Year, breaking several years of Pixel dominance. We really couldn’t have predicted this in January. It’s just a shame that the OnePlus 15 increased battery life but delivered a compromised camera experience.

I’ve been following the development of silicon-carbon batteries for a while, and 2025 was the first year the technology was embraced by several phone makers. This technology allows more capacity for the same physical battery size or a smaller physical size without affecting battery capacity. This resulted in high-end phones with batteries from 5,500 mAh to 6,500 mAh, such as the OnePlus 13, vivo X200 Pro, realme GT7 Pro and OPPO Find X8 Pro.

What I didn’t anticipate was that smartphone manufacturers would quickly and dramatically increase the size of the batteries on their flagship phones. The OnePlus 15 packs a 7,300mAh battery, while the realme GT8 Pro offers a 7,000mAh battery, and the OPPO Find X9 Pro packs a 7,500mAh battery. I really expected that many flagship phones would continue to run with 5,500 mAh to 6,500 mAh batteries for a while longer.

This means that Samsung and Google have not yet embraced silicon-carbon batteries. So don’t be surprised if future Galaxy and Pixel handsets offer more pedestrian battery capacity.