So the wait is finally over. After months of frustration, Samsung — it seems — is getting set to release Android 15 across “all markets” in April. With Google’s Pixel receiving its update back in late 2024, these delays have been described as a disaster. It’s fairly certain that the company cannot wait to move past “One UI 7 Gate.”
SammyFans credits an official update from the company’s New Zealand team for this latest release news. “While Samsung is confirming public One UI 7 for April,” it says, “the rollout timeline may vary depending on the models and carriers. It’s safe to assume that the official version will initially be provided to the Galaxy S24 series next month.”
It also seems safe to assume that the Android 15 / One UI 7 delays have now been baked into current user sentiment across Samsung-land, and with releases now imminent and One UI 7 such an impressive update, the bad news will soon be forgotten. But thanks to Google, there’s an even more critical update to come. And this will be a game-changer.
Google has brought forward Android 16. Per Android Authority, “moving the launch of the next major OS update up by a quarter, meaning the launch will now be planted firmly in Q2. As a result, Android 15’s cycle will be cut short by a few months.”
Android 16 will bring a raft of new security and privacy upgrades, building on Android 15 which did the same. Narrowing the security and privacy gap to iPhone has become a major Android theme, and new features will include better handling of encrypted and sensitive user data, better permission management and control over permission abuse. This builds on live threat detection, scam protection, network defense and more.
Ironically, after such a long wait for Android 15 Samsung Galaxy owners may not have that long to enjoy it — if the Android 15 delays are not repeated, of course. That certainly seems to be the intent Samsung’s side, to materially narrow the gap to Pixel when it comes to OS releases. Put simply — this is a must.
As reported by SamMobile, “we’re already seeing signs of One UI 8 development on Samsung’s firmware server, and even a photo of a Galaxy device running One UI 8 was making the rounds a few days ago.” While that device was likely an internal test unit, this all seems to confirm that “Samsung is indeed testing One UI 8.0 internally.”
It would be unrealistic to expect Samsung to match Pixel’s timeline, Google’s devices already have the Android 16 beta. But a short, sharp gap would make all the difference. Absent that, this will reinforce the challenges for Samsung and Android OEMs versus Google and Apple, which do not have full control of the hardware and software stack.
Apple’s surprising AI slip-up has left Google and Samsung leading the charge for new AI-fueled smartphones, an opportunity Samsung will not want to miss by ceding ground to Google as it accelerates its own product development. SamMobile warns that “One UI 7.0 delay becoming the new normal would be disaster for Samsung.” Albeit there’s also now hidden Android tracking for Samsung owners to deal with.
