Samsung's first Galaxy Unpacked event of 2025 is just around the corner, officially revealed to be taking place on January 22. In the meantime, leaks surrounding the company's latest Galaxy S25 Series of smartphones continue to pour in.
The latest, shared in a now-deleted X post by reputable leaker Evan Blass, appears to be official promotional shots of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus (shown below).
The images purportedly showcase Samsung's push to reduce display bezels, a new camera rim design, its overall design, and a familiar look at each's camera array. However, what's on the screen might be more interesting than anything else.
While the hardware hardcore may be distracted by the device's smoothed corners and amped in speculation over its lenses, I'm more interested in the reveal of the expected One UI 7 "Now Bar." A new Galaxy AI-powered feature that Samsung claims will be a "defining element" of its Android-based interface.
Samsung's "Now Bar," a different kind of Dynamic Island
Originally showcased in a November blog post to the Samsung Newsroom, One UI 7's new "Now Bar" feels suspiciously like Apple's Dynamic Island, which debuted on the iPhone 14 Pro models in 2022. However, Samsung's version of this may potentially have the upper hand, mostly because it could actually be good.
While Apple's Dynamic Island wasn't quite the groundbreaking piece of innovation its reveal reel would have led you to believe (eventually slipping into little more than a fancy notification bar), Samsung's Now Bar aims to integrate everyday actions into a widget-like bar for the device's lock screen. Better still, it won't require a large pill-shaped punch-out hole to do so.
Samsung's Now Bar will offer instant access to media controls, sleep and fitness insights, navigation assistance, and even recommendations on actions you can take to optimize your day-to-day phone use. Simply swiping the Now Bar offers you a selection of relevant slices of information based on your activities and most used apps. It can even offer a handy recap of events once the day is done.
While it's easy to pass this feature off as just another all-in-one widget, the fact that it seems to blend so tightly into One UI 7 and make effective use of Galaxy AI to ensure its recommendations are uniquely tuned to each user suggests more.
It's a bit like having a convenient way to scroll through your most important updates without needing to juggle several apps in the process. It's also a great way of breaking things down into bite-sized, easily absorbed doses of info, and effectively eradicating the "doom" from your doomscrolling in the process.
Samsung's Now Bar is more proactive than it is reactive, potentially making the next batch of Galaxy S25 phones feel smarter and more convenient in response — if it's handled right.
What's next?
We'd expect to see more of the Now Bar during the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event on January 22. It's here that we're also expecting to see the Galaxy S25 Series in full, with several other new Galaxy AI features sure to be unveiled.
The Now Bar has promise, but so did the iPhone's Dynamic Island. Promise alone won't guarantee success, just ask Bixby.
Whether or not the Now Bar dramatically changes how Galaxy smartphone users interact with their devices remains to be seen, but if Samsung and third-party developers can apply some creativity to this space, it could become a fantastic utility and a real draw for Samsung's One UI.
However, if the Now Bar fails to catch on, it may become yet another forgotten gimmick, a once heralded "defining" feature that turns out to be all hype, no bite.
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