Future Samsung Galaxy phones may have no buttons — here's what we know

Samsung may not stop with foldable devices when it comes to trying out new phone designs. A new leak claims that the smartphone giant could make a big change to the best Samsung phones by rolling out a buttonless phone.

As spotted by Sammobile, a leaker named OreXda is claiming on Twitter that future Samsung Galaxy S phones would ship with no physical buttons. Under this rumor, the traditional power and volume buttons would vanish from the side of Samsung's flagship, replaced by in-display buttons.

The tweet also included a concept image of the future buttonless Galaxy phone.

See more

Don't expect this to happen with the Samsung Galaxy S23 when that phone arrives next year. Instead, the leaker is tipping Samsung's move to a buttonless design for 2025, which would mean the Samsung Galaxy S25 could sport the new design.

OreXda doesn't have an extensive track record of accurate leaks, and it's hard to predict what's going to happen a year from now, let alone three years down the road. So we wouldn't exactly treat this buttonless Galaxy phone rumor as gospel, especially when there are so many question about how a buttonless phone could power on or be reset. Would it have some sort of a squeeze-frame or rely on special touch sensors? No one knows at this point.

Still, it's certainly true that the idea of buttonless phones have been kicked around by phone makers in the past. A few years ago, the Galaxy Note 10 was rumored to be experimenting with a buttonless design — it didn't happen — and Xiaomi recently showcased a concept phone with a quad curve design that eliminated buttons and even ports.

Samsung has filed multiple patents for a no-button phone. Some of those patents describe the ability to squeeze the sides of the phone to bring up different options on the display, while others describe concepts similar to Apple’s 3D Touch for in-display pressure sensitivity.

Phone designs have gotten pretty predictable in recent years, though there have been notable exceptions. This year alone, the Nothing Phone (1) tried to mix things up with a unique design on the back while Apple's new iPhone 14 Pro models replace the notch on the iPhone display with a cutout that morphs when notifications and alerts come in.

Samsung has shown itself willing to try out new designs, as well, spending the last couple years trying to popularize foldable phones like the recent Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4. The company has indicated it believes in the future of foldable phones, so it's not inconceivable that it would try to shake up phone designs in other ways.

But that doesn't sound like it will be the case of the Galaxy S23, which is tipped for a February 2023 release. Expect a phone that looks a lot like the current Galaxy S22 lineup, with any plans for a buttonless phone appearing much further down the road.