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Samsung announces date of 2025 Galaxy Unpacked

Happening in San Jose

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Galaxy S24 Series
File Photo: Galaxy S24 Series

Samsung has officially announced the date of the 2025 Galaxy Unpacked event. It will be held on January 22 (January 23 in the Philippines) at San Jose, California in the United States of America. Like usual, expect to see the Samsung Galaxy 25 Series to be revealed at the event.

The company is calling the event, “The Next Big Leap in Mobile AI Experiences.” Interested viewers can tune in to livestreams on Samsung.com, Samsung Newsroom, and Samsung’s YouTube channel. Other than the Galaxy S25 Series, there could be more “Galaxy innovations that bring seamless convenience into every moment of your life,” revealed at the event.

Here’s a video of the official invitation.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Series

The Galaxy S series, in particular, the Galaxy S Ultra in recent years, has always represented the peak of what Samsung can do in the mobile smartphone space. We should be able to expect more of the same for the Galaxy S25 Series.

In 2024, Samsung introduced “Galaxy AI” which became a precursor of everything else that came in 2024 for smartphones. Every manufacturer has since launched and built their own versions of smartphones around AI. Most of which, though, mostly still rely on Google Cloud. Features like Magic Erase, Generative Images, AI Translation, and more have made their way to various handsets.

How will Galaxy AI set itself apart in 2025? We’re just going to have to wait and see.


GadgetMatch will be covering the event. Stay tuned to all our platforms for the coverage.

Gaming

PlayStation might soon let you buy PC games

Cross-Buy might bundle your PS5 games with a PC version.

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Maintaining a gaming library between different platforms is a chore, especially for multiplayer games. It’s way too common to buy a new game on one platform, only to find out that your friends bought it on another. This could lead to double buying or forever missing out on playing with friends. Now, PlayStation, if a new leak is to be believed, will finally help cure the curse of platform mismatches.

Last week, @yAmethxst, an X user, posted leaked screenshots of new icons coming to PlayStation. The leak was also confirmed legit by Dealabs. Though some are less interesting (like a touchpad button), a couple of the new icons are hinting at a Cross-Buy function coming to the platform.

Based solely on the name, Cross-Buy doesn’t offer much. However, a complementary icon, which shows the PS5 logo and a PC logo side by side, confirms how Sony wants this to work. Cross-Buy will likely allow players to purchase two copies of the same game: one for the PlayStation and another for their PC.

There are a few gaps and questions to be answered, though. For one, which games are compatible with this feature? Is it exclusive to PlayStation’s first-party games, or are third-party games included?

Secondly, which platform on PC will the feature support? The likeliest suspect is Steam, but how about users who prefer the Epic Games Store or GOG?

There are so many mysteries about this feature. Heck, we don’t even know if this will actually work as we described. If anything, this is a welcome feature in the world of cross-platform gaming.

SEE ALSO: PlayStation announces a new duotone DualSense color

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EcoFlow launches PowerOcean in the Philippines

Solar battery system for secure, independent power solution

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EcoFlow has officially launched the EcoFlow PowerOcean (single-phase) solar battery system in the Philippines.

This marks the eco-friendly energy solutions provider’s entry to the market as it expands to Southeast Asia.

Leveraging its success in Europe and addressing the specific needs of the ASEAN market, the EcoFlow PowerOcean (single-phase) delivers reliable backup power, smart energy management, and cost-saving efficiency.

The system also addresses the problem of underutilized generated power from standalone panels, banking on its integrated solar-plus-storage type that is easy to install and capable of powering an entire home.

The EcoFlow PowerOcean’s inverter supports up to 12kW PV input and allows 95% depth of discharge. This ensures nearly all stored energy is put to use.

Meanwhile, the AI-driven TOU (time-of-use) scheduling system automatically decides when to charge, discharge, or feed energy back to the grid.

By factoring in real-time electricity prices, weather forecasts, and each household’s historical usage patterns, it charges during off-peak hours, prioritizes solar power during the day, and sells surplus energy when prices are high.

In addition, PowerOcean provides daily and monthly cost forecasts with over 90% accuracy. And it continuously refines its scheduling to capture every possible saving opportunity.

In Europe, households using PowerOcean have achieved up to 77.8% reductions in annual electricity bills.

Built to last

The EcoFlow PowerOcean’s plug-and-play system seamless integrates new and existing batteries to deliver scalable capacity and stable high-load performance.

Multiple appliances across the kitchen, living room, and home office can operate simultaneously without interruption. And the system can be expanded to 10 kWh or 15 kWh.

Plus, through its intuitive app, users can monitor real-time household power status, track generation and consumption trends, and control the system via voice commands.

That makes the PowerOcean an intelligent energy manager, aside from being a solar energy solution and storage technology.

Longevity is likewise assured. By using CATL’s battery cell with LFP battery chemistry, the PowerOcean offers a 6,000 life cycle, which means users can power their homes daily for more than 10 years. Furthermore, the system comes with an industry-leading 10-year warranty.

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The Mate 70 Air is HUAWEI’s clapback to the iPhone Air

HUAWEI’s slimmest smartphone slab so far

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Graphics by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

Like it or not, brands continue to push boundaries in tech and innovation by bringing us super slender slabs on the table.

From Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge, TECNO’s SPARK Slim, and Apple’s iPhone 17 Air, HUAWEI re-explores this year’s Mate line with an all-new model: the Mate 70 Air.

Editor’s Note: No one’s entirely sure if HUAWEI is going to skip the Mate 80 series for 2025.

The Thinnest Mate

Although the Mate 70 Air doesn’t totally beat iPhone Air’s 5.68mm thinness, it’s still HUAWEI’s thinnest slimmest single-slab smartphone to date at just 6.6mm thin!

HUAWEI Mate 70 Air

Hidden beneath this ultra-thin design is a large 6500mAh Si/C battery.

It also fills in the lapses of the iPhone Air by incorporating a large VC (Vapor Cooling) chamber as well as the inclusion of dual stereo speakers.

Fast charging is capped at 66W through HUAWEI’s SuperCharge standards although unlike the iPhone and Galaxy, the Mate 70 Air lacks wireless charging.

This time, HUAWEI has indicated the processor it uses. It’s powered by the company’s in-house chipsets: Kirin 9020A for 16GB variants while 9020B for the smaller 12GB models.

HUAWEI Mate 70 Air

Definitively, the Mate 70 Air is also the first super-slim smartphone that boasts a triple camera system.

And by that, it houses the three main focal lengths in modern-day smartphones: 1x wide (main), ultra-wide, and even a telephoto module intact.

HUAWEI Mate 70 Air XMAGE Camera

To be precise, it has a 50MP f/1.8 main camera based on a 1/1.3-inch sensor plus an 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide angle lens that doubles as a macro unit.

Last but definitely not the least, there’s the 12MP f/2.4 RYYB telephoto module that can take shots in 3x optical zoom and up to 30x digitally.

Front camera is a 10MP f/2.2 ultra-wide shooter.

Video recording is capped at 4K with AIS in mind (yes, AI-based image stabilization). Don’t be confused though as the main and telephoto cameras still have OIS built-in.

7-inch after 7 years!

The HUAWEI Mate 70 Air boasts a massive display not just in theory, but in real numbers. And by that, it has a massive 7.0-inch display.

After the 7.2-inch touting Mate 20X from seven (7) years ago, it’s the second HUAWEI phone to boast a screen past the 6-inch mark.

It’s a 120Hz Full HD+ OLED display capable of producing up to 4000 nits of peak brightness and has Audio and HDR Vivid Certifications as well.

HUAWEI Kunlun Glass

Graphics by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

And as surprising as it seems, it’s the only other slab that has stylus support (other than the Galaxy S series).

Covering that is none other than HUAWEI’s latest-gen Kunlun glass.

And while we’re at it, an ultra-durable brocade material was also used. This improves impact resistance of up to 10 times.

HUAWEI Mate 70 Air

It also features the quintessential dual IP68 + IP69 water and dust resistance rating.

Lastly, it runs China-based HarmonyOS 5.1 with intelligent AI features in line.

Wi-Fi 7+

Graphics by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

Also, an upgraded Wi-Fi 7+ support debuts here that can easily penetrate walls and reduce unwanted buffering while streaming.

Two-way satellite services, at least in China, is also supported through Beidou.

Pricing and Availability

The HUAWEI Mate 70 Air is available in Obsidian Black, Feathered White, plus Gold and Silver Brocade color choices.

HUAWEI Mate 70 Air

Graphics by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

Mainland China pricing and configuration are as follows:

  • 12+256GB =CNY 4199 (US$ 585 / EUR 505 / GBP 430 / SG$ 750 / PhP 33,430 / INR 50,360)
  • 12+512GB = CNY 4699 (US$ 660 / EUR 570 / GBP 495 / SG$ 860 / MYR 2780 / PhP 38,400 / INR 58,300)
  • 16+256GB = CNY 4699 (US$ 660 / EUR 570 / GBP 495 / SG$ 860 / MYR 2780 / PhP 38,400 / INR 58,300)
  • 16+512GB = CNY 5199 (US$ 730 / EUR 630 / GBP 550 / SG$ 950 / MYR 3075 / PhP 42,485 / INR 64,500)

* These are only approximate, rounded-off conversions for reference

As usual, global availability was never indicated. We just have to wait if they will bring this to overseas markets like this year’s Pura 80 series.

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