Is Samsung going to kill the Galaxy S25 Plus?

The Samsung Galaxy S25 series is still at least a year out, with the phones anticipated to launch sometime early next year, likely sometime between January and February based on precedent. However, a recent exclusive from Android Headlines suggests there may be a radical change in the pipeline for the S25 series — it may not come with a Galaxy S25 Plus model, leaving just a regular S25 and S25 Ultra as part of the lineup.

The rumor is based on Android Headline’s examinations of the IMEI database. The Galaxy S25 is available with model number SMS931B/DS, the S25 Ultra appears as SM-S938B, SM-S938U, SM-S938N, and SM-S9380. For reference, the B in the IMEI number stands for the Global model, the U for the USA, and the N for South Korea.

Android Headline believes that the omission of the S25 Plus from the database suggests that Samsung is making a major change to the lineup and launching only two devices in the S25 series. They also point out that the sales of the Plus variant haven’t always met sales expectations.

In 2020, Samsung actually had four variants: the Galaxy S20, S20 Plus, Note 20, and Note 20 Ultra. This was streamlined in 2021 to just the S21, S21 Plus, and S21 Ultra, and Samsung has kept this release schedule ever since.

The reasoning here strikes us as a little thin. There are many reasons why a phone model may not have been entered into the IMEI database yet. As SamMobile points out, just because there isn’t an early sign of an S25 Plus model doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist or isn’t in development. According to multiple sources, including Galaxy Club, the Galaxy S25 Plus is still in development. Samsung refers to the base, Plus, and Ultra models using codenames F1, F2, and F3 with accompanying model numbers SM-S931, SM-S936, and SM-S938. As far as we know so far, all three models are still on the table.

In other rumors, we’ve gotten some possible insight into the prospective camera sensors of the S25, plus some talk that Samsung may move away from Qualcomm to a MediaTek chip or some combination of MediaTek, Exynos, and Qualcomm chips. The latter rumor was recently contradicted by reliable tipster Ming-Chi Kuo who said Samsung will be sticking with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 for the S25 and will actually be the sole supplier.

At this point, we’re still very early in the rumor cycle for the Galaxy S25. Things usually don’t firm up until later in the year, so expect to get more reliable and less contradictory information in the coming months.