New leak is bad news for Galaxy owners
AFP via Getty Images
Republished on December 29 with new reports into another long-delayed Android security upgrade now confirmed as coming to Samsung phones.
If this latest leak is true, Samsung’s ill-fated One UI 7 beta still has some nasty surprises for Galaxy owners. The beta was very late coming—albeit what it adds is excellent. And now as millions more users look forward to installing the beta over the next few weeks, they could be disappointed.
As posted by @familytaes on X, “24 series OneUI 7 beta 3 will release between 30th~6th (Can be +- 2 days). After beta 3 there’d be 2~3 more beta builds at max. S23/22/21/A series won’t have any beta program.” The better news is that the stable release looks broadly on schedule. “Stable rollout schedule will be announced at unpacked, 22nd Jan (most probably Feb 1st~2nd week).”
Android Authority reported the “bad news” with this “new One UI 7 beta rumor here to dampen your Christmas spirits… If this information is accurate, this would be a highly irregular One UI beta program from Samsung. The lack of beta software for older Galaxy flagships will also not sit well with users who are already upset about Samsung’s delayed Android 15 rollout.”
This is a shame. Samsung’s spin on Android 15 is excellent. And while it won’t appeal to all die-hard Samsung and Android fans, as I’ve reported separately, the shift towards maximum restrictions as a default, clamping down on sideloading, and dangerous wireless and physical connections, and tighter controls over the ecosystem is all very welcome given the worsening threat landscape. At least from a security and privacy perspective, Samsung is doing a good job of closing the gap (to an extent) to iPhone and setting itself apart from Pixel.
As with all leaks there’s a serious word of caution here. As Android Authority says, “it’s important to note that other more reliable Samsung leakers are yet to corroborate this rumor.” I have approached Samsung for any comments on the leak or confirmation as to changes to its plans.
When One UI 7 does turn up for your phone, whether in beta or the stable release which is set to coincide with the Galaxy S25 in a few weeks, it will be a game-changer for your phone. While Samsung took some serious flak for the delays, it seems worth the wait. And you should familiarize yourself with Samsung’s and Google’s own Android security and privacy updates when you install.
Samsung says that with One UI 7 it “enhances security and privacy in the age of AI, giving users greater transparency and choice,” and I think that’s fair. The timing is right for this. You will likely have seen multiple stories over recent weeks as AI-powered threats start to make take a heavy toll on the mobile security landscape. Whether that means more realistic phishing expeditions or malware that has been AI-enhanced to evade detection, the results are not good for users.
Android 15 and One UI 7 will help, especially with live threat detection and tighter controls over installations, downloads and permission abuse. As such, the lack of a beta (if true) is manageable. What matters more is the timely availability of the stable release for your device.
Given delays to other updates in recent months—most notably with the One UI 7 beta itself, Samsung users may be concerned as to how quickly the stable Android 15 release will hit their devices.
It will be a while before we know for sure, but as SamMobile has just pointed out, “over the past 2-3 years, Samsung released the stable One UI update before the end of the year. This year, though, the South Korean firm delayed the release of the One UI beta update by three months… During the SDC 2024 event in October, Samsung announced that it would start rolling out the stable One UI 7.0 update in the first quarter of 2025. It seems that Samsung will keep its promise. However, don’t expect all phones in all regions to get the update simultaneously.”
Ironically, the timing of the One UI 7 release is expected to coincide with the Galaxy S25 rerelease, which will also address the patchy update schedule that leaves many Samsung users waiting for updates to hit their devices.
While this won’t resolve the region, model, carrier conundrum that plagues Android updates, the long-delayed introduction of seamless updates at least starts to address the issue and make it less painful for users. What we really want to see is an everyone, everywhere approach, just as Apple takes. But that’s not yet on the cards.
With One UI 7, the added care and attention might also extend the timeline. “Samsung has been quite late this year with the release of the new One UI update,” SamMobile says. “The company reportedly wanted a major update with an improved user experience, and it did just that. One UI 7 introduces a significant UI design overhaul.” You can check the likely eligibility of your device for the update here.
Android 15 is such a compelling security and privacy overhaul, made even more so by Samsung’s One UI wrap, that it’s a shame there are these delays in getting the new OS on to phones—especially new flagships. But it’s a game-changer for Android and there’s not long to wait now. Just don’t be caught out in the meantime installing pre-release software or apps from internet or social media posts.
Meanwhile, while the beta restriction is clearly bad news for S23 and S22 owners in particular, who may have expected a pre-release taste of Android 15 given the relative newness of their flagships, there’s also some new bad news for S24 owners as well. There were hopes another One UI 7 beta release might sneak out before the end of 2024. But those hopes seem to have been quashed.
“If you were still clinging on to hope that Samsung will release another One UI 7 beta for the Galaxy S24 lineup before the end of the year,” SamMobile has now reported, “you are going to be disappointed.” The report is based on a U.S. Samsung forum moderator confirming that “we will announce the status of Beta 3 once the software is available.” And clearly, as SamMobile points out, “with just four days to go before we say goodbye to this eventful year, that’s as good a sign as any that Samsung will not be releasing any new One UI 7 beta updates before January.”
That said, SamMobile has added that “as we were writing this, Samsung India’s beta team revealed that the next beta update is “expected to be released at the end of December 2024”, but we would still recommend keeping your expectations low.”
For those planning an S25 upgrade, there is some new good news on the security front. As reported by SammyFans, the new model “is almost confirmed to debut Seamless Updates. Years after avoiding this iconic feature, the company is all set to launch it with the upcoming phones. It will follow the initial yet silent release on the Galaxy A55. Leaked files from the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra confirmed the inclusion of Seamless Updates.”
This follows an Android Authority report that spotted telltale signs that this long-awaited security upgrade is finally coming to Samsung flagships. “Yes,” the website says, “the Galaxy S25 series supports seamless updates. Technically, Seamless Updates is an A/B Partition solution in Android. It is a core-level configuration that can’t be applied through software. Samsung seems to have experimented with the feature with the launch of the Galaxy A55. With A/B Partition, a new software update installs in the background. It allows the phone to function without any interruptions. Once the installation is done, the user just needs to restart the phone to get the software installed.”
There is no confirmation as yet as to whether this can be added to older flagships or will be just for the S25 model onward. It’s a stark gap in the Samsung security arsenal given how long it has been available on other Android devices. It simplifies and should help Samsung accelerate the painful monthly update process, and it makes it quicker and easier for users without the usual reboot downtime.
As Android Authority explains, “it is also secure from the legacy method as a software failure doesn’t corrupt the system firmware due to temporary installation in the secondary partition. Interestingly, Google introduced Seamless Updates with Android Nougat 7.1.”
Google clearly wants Samsung—Android’s leading OEM by far—to adopt this (relatively) mew update method. it’s unclear why it has taken so long. As I reported on this back in November, “there’s one area where the gap between Samsung and iPhone remains as big as ever—security updates. While Android pushes a monthly cycle as opposed to Apple’s as and when, users must wait for specific updates by model, region, and carrier, and not everyone gets the monthly update, with many on a quarterly or worse cycle… seamless or any form of regular all at once updating remains a critical missing feature for Samsung owners. This is exacerbated by Google flexing its muscles when it comes to its control over hardware and software with Pixels, something Samsung cannot match while it remains dependent on the broader Android ecosystem.”
Forget about the gap to iPhone, at least this finally plugs one key gap to Pixel.
