Samsung may make some of the best phones money can buy, but its flagships are still missing a few features its rivals have offered for years. One of those missing features, Car Crash Detection, may finally make an appearance on Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Leaked firmware files (via Android Authority) suggest that the Galaxy S25 Ultra will come with a car crash detection sensor. Strangely this seems to be the same composite sensor featured in the Galaxy S24 Ultra and Galaxy Z Fold 5, suggesting that both phones could (theoretically) support car crash detection as well — provided Samsung updates them with the right software.
It looks like Samsung has been using a virtual composite sensor, which takes data from multiple different physical sensors. In other words Samsung doesn’t need to find space for another sensor in its phones, and instead utilizes components that have been already included for other reasons — like the accelerometer or gyroscopic sensor.
More interesting are clues that Samsung may have been working on this feature as far back as One UI 5.1.1, which was released in July 2023. That might explain why the sensor is included on older phones, though it doesn't explain why Car Crash Detection isn’t available yet. It may be that Samsung has been having issues getting it to work, but wanted everything in place just in case it had a breakthrough.
This means that, should Car Crash Detection come to Galaxy S25 Ultra, it could also come to Galaxy S24 Ultra and Z Fold 5 — possibly Z Fold 6, if it has the composite sensor too. All it would take is a software update, and the upcoming One UI 7 upgrade could be the perfect place to make it happen. But since there’s no sign of this feature in the current One UI 7 beta, we’ll have to wait and see what happens.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra — biggest rumored upgrades
One of the biggest changes we’re expecting with the Galaxy S25 ultra is the design. Past Samsung flagships have had a very angular design, with flat edges and sharp corners — but this looks like it’ll change. Various leaked renders show off what looks like the S25 Ultra with curved corners, akin to iPhone 16 or Pixel 9. The screen may also increase from 6.8-inches to an iPhone 16 Pro Max-matching 6.9 inches.
The S25 series is also rumored to come with Qi2 magnetic wireless charging — something currently limited to iPhones and the mid-range HMD Skyline. Not only would that offer faster wireless charging speeds, it also means Samsung flagship could take advantage of all the MagSafe accessories that iPhone users have been able to enjoy over the years.
Rumors also suggest that we may see an upgraded ultrawide angle lens, possibly jumping from the paltry 12MP on S24 Ultra all the way to 50MP. There’s also speculation that we may see a “variable” telephoto lens, capable of switching between two different focal lengths — with rumors claiming we could get 4-5x and 6-7x optical zoom in a single camera lens. We’re also hearing that all Galaxy S25 models will run on the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, regardless of where they’re sold, offering the power and energy efficiency improvements we know Qualcomm’s latest chip is capable of.
Finally we’re expecting a bunch of new Galaxy AI features to debut on Galaxy S25 Ultra and One UI 7, though right now it isn’t clear what we might be getting. We’ll just have to wait until Galaxy Unpacked to find out more, and rumor is that the event will be happening on January 22. Until then be sure to check out our Samsung Galaxy S25 and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra hubs for all the latest news and updates.
More from Tom's Guide
