Endless One UI 7 Delays Remind Me Of The Samsung I Used To Hate

Joe Maring / Android Authority

It’s been a taxing few months to be a Samsung fan. From a hardware perspective, things are at a bit of a standstill. Flagships like the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy S25 Ultra are technically superb, but they’re extremely safe and minor upgrades from their predecessors.

If that’s the case, Samsung is surely doing more interesting things with software, right? It is! The company introduced a bunch of new Galaxy AI features with the Galaxy S25 series, and its latest One UI 7 update is one of the most significant visual refreshes we’ve seen in years.

There’s just one problem. Samsung’s software rollout efficiency has nosedived. As strong of an update as One UI 7 is, Samsung is taking forever to get the update in people’s hands. It’s a problem that’s been going on for months and is only getting worse. It all brings up reminders of Samsung from a few years ago, and that’s not a version of the company I care to remember.

The long, never-ending road to One UI 7

Robert Triggs / Android Authority

To put things nicely, Samsung’s One UI 7 rollout has been a mess. Android 15 was officially released for Pixel phones on October 15, and based on previous One UI releases, that’s when we expected the One UI 7 beta to drop. But that’s not how it worked out. October went by, and nothing happened. November, too. It wasn’t until December 5 that Samsung launched its One UI 7 beta for the Galaxy S24 series — nearly two months after Android 15’s rollout.

What’s happened since then? Samsung released two more beta updates in December and January, and on January 22, One UI 7 saw its full release alongside the Galaxy S25 series. Unfortunately, the Galaxy S25, S25 Plus, and S25 Ultra are the only Samsung phones with a stable One UI 7 update. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S24 series is stuck on a public beta with no official word from Samsung on when the final update will be ready.

Although Samsung isn’t saying anything, the rumor mill certainly is, and it doesn’t sound promising. On February 7, it was reported that a stable One UI 7 update for the S24 series was “a long way off,” while another source claimed the update would arrive either in late February or early March.

Samsung’s One UI 7 rollout has been incredibly messy, and it’s only getting worse.

Following that, another rumor from February 14 suggests Samsung is delaying the One UI 7 update for its other phones until the Galaxy S25 Edge is released — potentially pushing the update back to April or May. Even worse, the prolonged One UI 7 release has supposedly put Samsung in a position where it may need to cancel its expected One UI 7.1 update.

Assuming we don’t see a One UI 7 public release until May, that’ll put Samsung seven months behind Android 15’s rollout last October. That’s a rough situation for all Samsung smartphone owners, but it’s particularly bad for people with recent Samsung flagships like the Galaxy S24 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold 6, Galaxy Z Flip 6, etc.

A reminder of the Samsung of old

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

How in the world did we get here? That’s what I’m trying to figure out. In recent years, Samsung has been one of the best in the business for timely Android updates.

One UI 6, for example, was officially released to the Galaxy S23 series on October 30, 2023 — less than a month after Android 14 started rolling out on October 4. One UI 5 saw a timely release, too, coming to the Galaxy S22 series on October 24, 2022, after Android 13’s public launch on August 15 of that year.

One UI 7 is a much bigger update than the two versions before it, so it makes sense that Samsung may need some extra time to get everything right. But that doesn’t excuse going from a one-to-two-month release window to potentially a seven-month one.

Stephen Schenck / Android Authority

Not only has this created a bad look for Samsung today, but it’s also evoked memories of a version of the company I used to hate. While the last few years saw Samsung forge ahead as one of the most reliable brands for timely updates, it wasn’t always that way.

Let’s take a trip back to 2010. Justin Beiber’s Baby is stuck in your head, you’re crying in a movie theater watching Toy Story 3, and you can’t stop playing Angry Birds. Good times. On December 6 of that year, Google released Android 2.3 Gingerbread as its latest major Android upgrade.

Samsung is quickly reverting to the worst version of itself.

When did Samsung start rolling out the update to its devices? It wasn’t in December, that’s for sure. It wasn’t in January either, or even February. Samsung’s Android 2.3 upgrade didn’t start rolling out to users until May 16, 2011. Does that sound familiar compared to what’s going on now?

Samsung had been on the right track for a while, delivering polished and timely Android updates that you could set your clock by. But that’s all changed with One UI 7, and not for the better.

Samsung needs to get back on track

Lanh Nguyen / Android Authority

We can’t say with certainty what’s causing One UI 7’s endless delays; chances are, we’ll never know for sure. Whatever the issue is, it’s something Samsung needs to ensure doesn’t happen again when it’s time for the Android 16/One UI 8 update.

Even if Android updates aren’t as critically important as they were in the 2010s, this stuff still matters. It’s bad PR for Samsung, is tarnishing all of the progress it’s made with Android updates in recent years, and is just a poor way to treat customers. It also doesn’t help that One UI 7 is an exciting update with a lot of new visuals and features, but right now, only Galaxy S25 owners are getting to experience it.

Samsung dug itself out of this hole before and has proven it can get updates out quickly. Let’s just hope this is a bump in the road rather than a sign of the new (old) norm.