Technologies

Samsung Will Unveil the Super-Slim Galaxy S25 Edge on Monday: Here’s How to Watch

The long-awaited phone will make its debut at a virtual Unpacked event. Here’s everything to know and how to tune in.

At long last, the super-thin Galaxy S25 Edge that Samsung teased earlier this year is slated to make its official debut. The company will showcase the phone at a virtual Unpacked event on Monday, May 12.

Samsung introduced the S25 Edge at its Galaxy Unpacked event in January, and had models of the phone on display — but no one could touch or get too close to them. The company had a similar hands-off display at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in March. At last, it appears we’re one step closer to seeing just how thin — and hopefully light — the latest addition to the Galaxy lineup is.

How to watch the Galaxy S25 Edge unveiling

Samsung’s Unpacked event for the S25 Edge will be fully virtual and will be held on Monday, May 12, at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT).

The event will be livestreamed on Samsung’s YouTube channel, on Samsung.com and on the Samsung Newsroom.

CNET will be covering all the live updates, so be sure to follow along.

The launch of the S25 Edge comes about three months after the release of the baseline Galaxy S25, S25 Plus and S25 Ultra.

What features will the S25 Edge have?

When Samsung first teased the Galaxy S25 Edge, details were slimmer than the device itself. There have been plenty of rumors, though, primarily relating to the phone’s battery and camera. With less space, just how much battery capacity and camera specs could Samsung pack in?

A leak from German tech blog WinFuture earlier this month suggests the S25 Edge will have a 3,900-mAh battery, which is less than both the baseline S25’s 4,000-mAh battery and the S25 Plus’ 4,900 mAh. We’ll have to see if these leaks align with what Samsung unveils on Monday, and, if true, whether the company manages to improve battery efficiency so you don’t really feel that difference.

Regarding the camera, Samsung’s display models showed two lenses on the back. Subsequent rumors have suggested a 200-megapixel wide lens paired with a 12-megapixel ultrawide lens. Samsung has remained quiet on any specifics until now, but confirmed in a post Wednesday that the S25 Edge will indeed feature that 200-megapixel wide lens.

«And thanks to Galaxy AI, the camera transforms into a smart lens that helps recognize what matters to create new memories,» Samsung added. AI capabilities will extend to photo editing as well, it says.

Other rumors from leaker Evan Blass suggest the S25 Edge will weigh 163 grams, measure 5.8mm thick and feature a titanium bezel, along with a Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 display. It could also be equipped with a Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip.

Additional rumors suggest the Galaxy S25 Edge could have a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with a 2,130 x 1,440 resolution, 12 GB of RAM and 256GB or 512GB of storage. Again, we’ll have to see what the official specs are from Samsung come May 12.

Why is Samsung making a thin Galaxy phone?

So, why would someone want a thin phone anyway?

It appears many phone makers, from Samsung to Apple to Oppo, are eyeing slim phones as the next design iteration to lure in potential customers. Oppo released its super-thin Find N5 foldable earlier this year, which it calls the «world’s thinnest book-style foldable,» measuring just 8.93mm thick when closed and 4.21mm thick when opened. Apple is rumored to be developing an «Air» version of the iPhone 17, a thinner (and presumably lighter) version of its handset. At MWC 2025, phone-maker Tecno showed off its Spark Slim phone concept, a handset measuring 5.75mm thick (skinnier than a standard pencil) and weighing only 146 grams, according to the company.

But thin phones have a big hurdle to overcome: Less space often means a smaller battery, scaled-back camera hardware and less storage. And as it so happens, those are three of the biggest considerations when people buy a new phone, according to a CNET survey from August.

«You can’t just be thin; you have to still have all the bells and whistles of a premium phone,» Nabila Popal, senior director of data and analytics at IDC, told me at MWC in March. «The question is, how are OEMs [phone makers] going to achieve that without compromising the other more important features like battery and camera?»

Popal also noted that the «slim is in» trend is largely an attempt by phone makers to differentiate their products. AI has also been a means for companies to make their offerings stand out, but that’s already become rather ubiquitous. An eye-catchingly thin phone could be one way to grab people’s attention — and dollars.

As Samsung sees it, it’s all about «merging flagship-level performance with superior portability,» it noted in its post, adding, «As our reliance on these devices grows, so do our expectations for them to be portable and lightweight without sacrificing power and innovation.»

Starting Wednesday, eligible customers who reserve the Galaxy S25 Edge can get a $50 Samsung credit toward the device.

We’ll see what’s in store come May 12.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge

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Technologies

Forza Horizon 6 Focuses on Japanese Car Culture: Here’s What to Know

The racing series’ latest edition, out in May, includes stunning views of Mount Fuji.

Microsoft has given racing-game fans a deeper dive into the upcoming Forza Horizon 6, and on Friday announced a May 19 release date for Xbox and PC. Premium Edition buyers will get early access on May 15, but PlayStation 5 owners will have to wait until sometime later in 2026 to play.

The publisher provided a first-look video that shows stunning views of Japan, including cherry blossom-strewn rural roads, ice-enclosed courses, neon-lit Tokyo streets and plenty of views of Mount Fuji.

The game will launch with 550 collectible cars, and Microsoft will display two on the cover: the 2025 GR GT Prototype and the 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Microsoft says the open-world game will focus on Japanese car culture, with the player in the role of a new arrival to the country guided by two close friends, motorsports fan Jordy and car builder Mei.

The locations will be divided into districts, ranging from bustling urban areas such as Tokyo’s Shibuya Crossing to suburbs, industrial docklands, and more rural areas.

What to know about Forza Horizon 6

Progress in the game will include unlocking new cars and more advanced races, plus a journal of digital mementos inspired by stamp collecting.

The game features eight player houses across Japan that serve as fast-travel points. And new to the game series is The Estate, a piece of land players can acquire and build on.

Inspired by Japanese car culture, Forza Horizon 6 will add Car Meets that’ll serve as social spaces for players.

The Standard Edition costs $70, the Deluxe Edition costs $100, and the Premium Edition, which unlocks early access and includes several Car Packs, costs $120. The game will also be a Day 1 release on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and will be available on Steam and Xbox Cloud as well.

Technologies

TikTok Deal Will Keep It Online in the US, but Your Experience of the App Might Change

TikTok has secured its future by agreeing to split the US app from the global business. But the deal will spark changes to the app’s algorithm.

TikTok has dodged a ban and secured its long-term future in the US by announcing a deal on Friday that will see a joint venture take over US operations of the popular social video app. The deal marks the conclusion of a protracted battle over the app’s continued presence in the US, which dates back to President Donald Trump’s first term in office.

TikTok in the US will now be run by TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, which was established by a White House executive order issued in September 2025. At its helm will be CEO Adam Presser, previously the head of operations, who led TikTok’s efforts to ensure that the data of the app’s US users was kept secure. Shou Chew, the CEO of TikTok’s international operations, will serve on the joint venture’s board of directors.

«TikTok USDS Joint Venture’s mandate is to secure US user data, apps and the algorithm through comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity measures,» the company said in a statement. «It will safeguard the US content ecosystem through robust trust and safety policies and content moderation while ensuring continuous accountability through transparency reporting and third-party certifications.»

The venture has three managing investors — Silver Lake, Oracle and MGX — which each hold a 15% stake. Oracle also will be responsible for protection of US user data and of the freshly retrained algorithm, which will be specific to the US version of the app.

Presidents Trump and Joe Biden raised concerns over a potential national security threat posed by TikTok, because of its Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance, which will retain a 19.9% stake in the new joint venture. During both of his presidential terms, Trump has attempted to ban TikTok, but also delayed the ban’s implementation.

The deal announced on Friday arrived moments before the deadline set by the White House for TikTok to comply with its September executive order. In a post on his social site Truth Social, Trump said he was «so happy to have helped in saving TikTok.»

«I only hope that long into the future I will be remembered by those who use and love TikTok,» said Trump. He also thanked China’s President Xi Jinping for working with the US and approving the deal. «He could have gone the other way, but didn’t, and is appreciated for his decision,» he said.

How TikTok might change for you

TikTok has more than 200 million users in the US, and if you’re one of them, the deal announced on Friday will allow you to continue using the app without the ongoing fear of it being banned.

It also won’t see you cut off from creators in China, or the rest of the world. People in the US will still be able to watch videos from Europe, such as last year’s viral «nothing beats a Jet2 holiday» trend. TikTok users outside of the US will still be able to follow their favorite American creators.

In the TikTok newsroom post, the company addressed interoperability, saying that the deal would «provide US users with a global TikTok experience, ensuring US creators can be discovered and businesses can operate on a global scale.»

Where the experience might change is in the content that is recommended to you. Under the terms of the deal, TikTok’s algorithm will be retrained, tested and updated based on US user data. This will have a knock-on impact on what you see on the platform, according to Kelsey Chickering, principal analyst at Forrester.

«TikTok’s power lies in its content graph — an algorithm that learns from thousands of user signals to deliver hyper‑relevant, highly addictive videos,» said Chickering. «With a US joint venture retraining that algorithm on domestic data, the experience will change — maybe for the better, maybe not. One thing’s certain: TikTok in America won’t be the same.»

In spite of the interoperability that will see US TikTok users connected to those across the globe, it does seem likely that the focus on US data will lead to a shift away from the global nature of the content that the algorithm currently serves up to you.

«TikTok’s US algorithm will now be trained on US data, which means what trends — and what dominates feeds — will feel distinctly American,» said Chickering. «Global content will still appear, but its ranking will change.»

Exactly how this will look may differ from person to person, and will likely take some time to come into effect as the joint venture begins the retraining process. TikTok didn’t immediately respond to questions regarding how long it expects retraining the algorithm to take, when US TikTok users should expect to be impacted by changes and whether it will issue public updates about this process.

One potential pitfall the company might want to avoid, Chickering said, is moderating the US version of TikTok in a way that tilts too far toward any one particular political viewpoint, or fails to curb misinformation. Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter (now X) — and his subsequent algorithmic changes that alienated users and advertisers — is a cautionary tale in this regard. With Instagram Reels already vying to replace TikTok, the company will likely want to avoid making changes that could spark a mass exodus of people.

«For now, it’s speculation,» said Chickering. «It remains to be seen how new leadership will wield this power and whether moderation policies will evolve.»

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Friday, Jan. 23

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Jan. 23.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Hope you’re familiar with a certain blond actor (8-Across)! Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.