SEOUL, April 10, 2026, 01:22 KST
Samsung Electronics on April 9 widened the One UI 8.5 beta, its Android 16 software layer, to more Galaxy phones, adding the Galaxy S23 lineup, Galaxy Z Fold5, Galaxy Z Flip5, Galaxy S23 FE and Galaxy A36 5G. The same day, the company also began shipping a second One UI 8.5 beta build to the Galaxy S24 series in India and South Korea. 1
The move matters now because Samsung is leaning harder on software, not just new hardware, to keep older Galaxy owners inside its ecosystem as AI features become a bigger reason to upgrade — or not to leave. Samsung said more devices would join the beta later in April, a sign it wants One UI 8.5 spread quickly across more of its range. 1
It also sharpens the contest with Apple and Google. Samsung said One UI 8.5 beta adds support for Apple’s AirDrop — its short-range file-sharing system — through Quick Share, Samsung’s sharing tool, on select newer Galaxy devices, while Google said the Galaxy S26 line launched with deeper Gemini tools and on-device scam detection inside Samsung’s Phone app. 1
Samsung said the new beta would roll out in phases across India, South Korea, Britain and the United States, depending on model. The Galaxy A36 5G is limited to India for now, while the Fold5 and Flip5 are initially supported only in Korea and the U.S., making the A36 the first A-series handset to enter the One UI 8.5 beta. 1
On the Galaxy S24 family, SamMobile said the second beta in India was about 897 MB and carried firmware ending ZZD5. The package brings nine changes, including three new camera filters, fixes for Bluetooth dropouts and screen flicker during dual recording, plus April’s security update, which Samsung’s bulletin shows includes critical and high-severity Android patches alongside Samsung’s own fixes. 2
Samsung also opened the beta for the Galaxy S23, S23+ and S23 Ultra, with SammyGuru reporting packages of more than 4 GB in India and Korea. At the other end of the cycle, the Galaxy S25 line picked up a ninth beta on April 9 in India, South Korea, the UK and the U.S., an unusually long testing stretch for Samsung’s latest flagship range. 3
Samsung has been blunt about the direction of travel. “We will apply AI to all products, all functions, and all services as quickly as possible,” mobile chief T M Roh told Reuters in January, and he said at MWC in March Samsung wanted to show not only where Galaxy AI was, “but where it’s going next.” 4
Analysts say the harder job is making those features stick. PP Foresight’s Paolo Pescatore said AI needs to feel “boringly useful,” not like a gimmick, while Counterpoint senior analyst Yang Wang said Apple and Samsung are “best-positioned to weather the next few quarters” as costs rise across the phone market. 5
But there is still a snag. Gadget Hacks reported this week that Samsung had confirmed AI-powered call screening — a feature that lets the phone answer or filter unknown calls — for the Galaxy S25 through a future software update, yet Android Central said other Samsung Community posts pointed the other way, and Samsung’s April 9 beta release did not spell out which Galaxy S26 AI features, if any, will be backported more broadly. 6
That uncertainty lands as phone makers brace for a tougher year. Reuters reported in January that IDC and Counterpoint both expected global smartphone sales to shrink in 2026 as memory prices rose, which helps explain why Samsung is pushing fresh software across older devices now instead of saving every new trick for the next launch. 7
