New leak is bad news for Galaxy owners
AFP via Getty Images
Republished on December 29 with new reports of another long-delayed Android security upgrade, now confirmed to be coming to Samsung phones.
If this latest leak is true, Samsung’s ill-fated One UI 7 beta still has some nasty surprises in store for Galaxy owners. The beta came very late, although what it adds is excellent. And now that millions more users are eagerly waiting to install the beta over the next few weeks, they might be disappointed.
As published by @familytaes on X, “24 OneUI 7 beta 3 series will be released between the 30th and 6th (maybe +- 2 days). After Beta 3, there would be 2-3 more betas at most. The S23/22/21/A series will not have a beta program. The best news is that the stable release appears to be mostly on schedule. “A stable deployment schedule will be announced on January 22 (most likely February 1-2).”
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, it would be a very irregular One UI beta program from Samsung. The Lack of beta software for older Galaxy flagships also won’t sit well with users who are already unhappy with Samsung’s delayed Android 15 rollout.
It’s a shame. Samsung’s version of Android 15 is excellent. And while it won’t please all die-hard Samsung and Android fans, as I’ve reported separately, the move toward maximum restrictions by default, cracking down on sideloading. and unsafe physical and wireless connections, as well as tighter controls on the ecosystem are all welcome given the worsening threat landscape. At least from a security and privacy perspective, Samsung is doing a good job bridging the gap (to some extent) with the iPhone and distancing itself from the Pixel.
As with all leaks, there is a serious caveat here. As Android Authority “It’s important to note that other, more reliable Samsung leakers have yet to corroborate this rumor.” I’ve reached out to Samsung for any comment on the leak or confirmation of changes to its plans.
When One UI 7 appears on your phone, whether in beta or in the stable release that is expected to coincide with the Galaxy S25 in a few weeks, it will be a game-changer for your phone. Although Samsung has been seriously criticized for the delays, it is worth the wait. And you should familiarize yourself with Android security and privacy updates from Samsung and Google during installation.
Samsung says that with One UI 7 it “improves security and privacy in the AI era, giving users more transparency and choice”, and I think that’s fair. The time has come for this. You’ve probably seen several stories over the past few weeks as AI-driven threats begin to take a heavy toll on the mobile security landscape. Whether it’s more realistic phishing expeditions or AI-enhanced malware to evade detection, the results aren’t good for users.
Android 15 and One UI 7 will help, especially with live threat detection and tighter controls on installations, downloads and permission abuse. As such, the lack of a beta (if true) is manageable. What matters most is the timely availability of the stable version for your device.
Given the delays in other updates in recent months, notably with the One UI 7 beta itself, Samsung users may be concerned about how quickly the stable version of Android 15 will arrive on their devices.
It will be a while before we know for sure, but as SamMobile just pointed out: “Over the past 2-3 years, Samsung has released the stable One UI update before the end of the year. This year, however, 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 begin rolling out the update stable One UI 7.0 in Q1 2025. It looks like Samsung will keep its promise. However, don’t expect all phones in all regions to receive the update simultaneously.
Ironically, the timing of One UI 7’s release is expected to coincide with the re-release of the Galaxy S25, which will also address the spotty update schedule that leaves many Samsung users waiting for updates to arrive on their devices.
While this won’t solve the region, model, and carrier conundrum that affects Android updates, the long-delayed introduction of seamless updates at least begins to address the problem and make it less painful for users. What we really want to see is an approach for everyone, everywhere, just like Apple’s. But this is not yet planned.
With One UI 7, the extra care and attention could also extend the time frame. “Samsung was quite late this year with the release of the new One UI update”, SamMobile said. “The company would have wanted a major update with an improved user experience, and that’s exactly what it did. One UI 7 introduces a significant overhaul to the user interface design. You can check the likely eligibility of your device for the update here.
Android 15 is such a compelling overhaul when it comes to security and privacy, made even more true by Samsung’s One UI package, that it’s a shame there are these delays in getting the new OS installed on phones, especially on new flagships. But this is a game changer for Android and there’s not long to wait now. Don’t get caught out by installing pre-release versions of software or applications from the Internet or social media posts.
Meanwhile, while the beta restriction is clearly bad news for S23 and S22 owners in particular, who might have expected a taste of Android 15 given the relative newness of their flagships, it There’s also more bad news for S24 owners. It was hoped that another One UI 7 beta might release before the end of 2024. But those hopes appear to have been dashed.
“If you were still clinging to the hope that Samsung will release another One UI 7 beta for the Galaxy S24 line before the end of the year,” SamMobile has now declared: “you will be disappointed”. The report is based on a moderator of the American Samsung forum. confirming that “we will announce the status of Beta 3 once the software is available.” And clearly, like SamMobile points out: “With just four days until the end of this eventful year, it’s a good sign that Samsung won’t release new One UI 7 beta updates until January. »
That said, SamMobile added that “as we wrote this, the Samsung India beta team revealed that the next beta update “is expected to be released in late December 2024,” but we still recommend keeping your expectations low.
For those considering an S25 upgrade, there’s some more good news on the security front. As reported SammyFansthe new model is almost confirmed to launch seamless updates. Years after avoiding this iconic feature, the company is ready to launch it with upcoming phones. It will follow the initial but silent version of the Galaxy A55. Leaked files of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra have confirmed the inclusion of seamless updates.
This follows a 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 Android A/B partitioning solution. This is a basic configuration that cannot be applied through software. Samsung seems to have experimented with this feature with the launch of the Galaxy A55. With A/B Partition, a new software update installs in the background. This allows the phone to work without any interruption. Once the installation is complete, the user simply needs to restart the phone to install the software.
There is no confirmation yet on whether this may be added to older flagships or if it will only be the S25 model. This is a glaring gap in Samsung’s security arsenal given how long it’s been available on other Android devices. This simplifies and should help Samsung speed up the painful monthly update process, and make it quicker and easier for users without the usual reboot downtime.
As Android Authority explains: “It is also secure compared to the legacy method because a software failure does not 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, by far the main Android equipment manufacturer, to adopt this (relatively) new update method. it’s unclear why it took so long. As I reported in November, “There’s one area where the gap between Samsung and iPhone remains wider than ever: security updates.” While Android imposes a monthly cycle unlike Apple’s as it goes, users have to wait for specific updates by model, region, and carrier, and not everyone gets the monthly update, many following a quarterly cycle or worse… transparent or in any form whatsoever. Regular, simultaneous updating remains a critical missing feature for Samsung owners. This is exacerbated by Google flexing its muscle when it comes to its own control over hardware and software with the Pixels, something Samsung can’t match as long as it remains dependent on the Android ecosystem wider.
Forget the gap with iPhone, at least this finally fills a key gap with Pixel.
