Samsung plans to update Galaxy lines to Android 16 in Summer

Samsung is planning to significantly speed up the rollout of the next version of its firmware: the first compatible devices should receive One UI 8 on Android 16 between the end of June and the beginning of autumn. With this step, the company wants to compensate for the delay of last year's One UI 7 update, which was received by Galaxy owners only six months after the release of Android 15.

Android Police writes about it.

Why will One UI 8 be released sooner?

During the Android Show, the President of the Android ecosystem, Sameer Samat, confirmed that Samsung devices and many others would receive Android 16 this summer. With Google traditionally releasing a stable build of Android 16 for Pixel smartphones in June, the early launch of One UI 8 makes logical sense and gives Samsung a chance to regain user confidence after last year's delay.

According to preliminary reports, the One UI 8 beta program will start this month. It usually takes companies only a few weeks to move from beta to stable release. Therefore, the latest Galaxy flagships may receive the final version of the firmware as early as July.

One UI 8 focuses on small but noticeable improvements. An early beta leak suggests that the main focus is on polishing the interface introduced in One UI 7, rather than a complete redesign. Among the new features are an audio version of Now Brief, a revised Now Bar, and updated elements in Samsung's system apps to better match the One UI 7 style.

Instead, Google's Material 3 Expressive design will not appear until the first quarterly update of Android 16. Samsung is expected to integrate changes related to this visual style only in One UI 8.1 at the end of the year.

As a reminder, the transition to One UI 7 provides a noticeably smoother system operation and adds the long-awaited vertical list of applications. At the same time, immediately after the update, the interface may not be very user-friendly. However, two simple steps allow you to return to the usual logic of notifications and make using the system much more comfortable.

We also wrote that One UI 7 has become one of the fastest and most convenient Android shells, but the factory settings do not always reveal the full potential of the device. A few tweaks to the system can turn the Galaxy into a smoother, more personalised, and energy-efficient smartphone.