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After the massive delay in releasing the One UI 7 update, Samsung decided to skip One UI 7.1 and One UI 7.1.1 updates and jump straight to One UI 8, exactly as we had exclusively reported months earlier. It looked like Samsung’s way of making it up for its One UI 7 release debacle, but it was actually a start of its new One UI release strategy.

Over the past few years, every new Galaxy S series launched early in the year with a major new version of Android and One UI. Galaxy Z series foldable phones were usually launched in the middle of the year with a One UI x.1.1 update that brought some new features and foldable-related optimizations. This year, the Galaxy Z Flip 7, Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE, and Galaxy Z Fold 7 became the first phones to run Android 16 and One UI 8.0 out of the box.

Galaxy Z phones will debut with major new Android and One UI versions

According to @UniverseIce, going forward, Samsung’s new foldable phones will debut with the newest versions of Android and One UI in the middle of the year, while Galaxy S series phones will launch with a minor One UI version. However, that doesn’t mean Galaxy S series phones will get the short end of the stick.

While Galaxy Z series phones will come with major new Android and One UI versions, they will reportedly bring only some new features and foldable-related optimizations. Galaxy S series phones, though, will get lots of new features as part of the One UI x.5 software. So, Galaxy S series phones will still have an upper hand over Galaxy Z series devices in terms of software features and design changes.

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So, to line up with Google’s major new Android version release, Samsung will release major One UI versions in the middle of the year with its new foldables. Six months later, Samsung will bring a lot of new features as part of its One UI x.5 software and debut it with new Galaxy S series phones.