Samsung accelerates the development of One UI 8.5, preparing to launch with the Galaxy S26 series

Although there were a few months to launch, Samsung’s Galaxy S26 has begun to show information related to software. According to sources from Sammy Police Galaxy S26 Ultra and the remaining versions will not receive the One UI 8.1 update as usual. Instead, Samsung will go straight to One UI 8.5, developed on Android 16 platform, to ensure software release progress and bring larger changes to users.

Internal codes leaked in Samsung’s software system have confirmed the existence of One UI 8.0 and One UI 8.5, but absolutely no mention of One UI 8.1. This shows that the company may have decided to ignore the small update to put the force for the .5 – which often contains more deep improvements in terms of features and interface design. This is also the first time in many years, Samsung returned to the update model in the form of “.5”, instead of “.1” or “.

One UI 8 is expected to be officially launched by the end of 2025 with the Galaxy Z Fold7 and Z Flip7 folding phones. This will be the first version of this interface based on Android 16. By the beginning of 2026, the Galaxy S26 series will be released with One UI 8.5 pre -installed, instead of receiving the following update as its predecessors.

One UI 8.5 is expected to bring more powerful AI tools, improve the user interface and integrate many exclusive features for the Galaxy S26 Ultra to confront the iPhone 17 Pro. Some reports also revealed that Google and Samsung are cooperating to bring exclusive Android 16 features exclusively for Galaxy devices.

If this information becomes a reality, the Galaxy S26 Ultra may be one of the first smartphones to maximize the power of Android 16 combined with the Galaxy AI platform that Samsung is building.