Galaxy Z Fold 7 may ship with a surprise Samsung fans didn’t expect so soon
Samsung’s One UI 7 update took quite a lot of time and it’s finally starting its official rollout to supported Galaxy phones. The delay got quite a lot of Sammy fans displeased, but it seems the South Korea-based tech giant is aiming to make it up to its fans… with the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7.
According to SamMobile, the two foldables, which are expected to be unveiled sometime in the summer of this year, may come with One UI 8. Not 7.1 or something, as you’d probably expect, but 8!
Thanks to Samsung’s almost unacceptable delay of One UI 7 (based on Android 15) many people are understandably now concerned about delays with One UI 8 too. However, multiple reports have claimed so far that Samsung may be looking to accelerate One UI 8’s release and it may even launch in the second half of the year with the foldable phones.
According to ‘insider sources’ of SamMobile, One UI 8, based on Android 16, may be installed on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 out of the box. The sources have reportedly said that the two phones will rock ‘the latest Android and One UI version’, which would be One UI 8 based on Android 16. Google seems to be planning to release the stable Android 16 sometime in June or July of this year. Yep, this pretty much means Samsung’s foldable phones will come with it just days or weeks after its official launch if these rumors are to be believed.
Following its tradition, Google will likely showcase the new Android version during Google I/O, its developer conference. This year, the conference is scheduled for May 20 and May 21. Then, we will see a glimpse of all the major changes coming with Android 16.
One UI is Samsung’s skin on top of Android. Likely, One UI 8 will adopt almost all (if not all) major changes in Android 16 and all the improvements and enhancements it will bring. This means there’s not much time left to wait to get an idea of what to expect.
What’s not clear at this point is whether Samsung will run a beta program for One UI 8. This is usually how Samsung does this, so I’d expect it would indeed launch a beta program, hopefully just not as long as the One UI 7 beta which managed to upset many Samsung fans (just because of how slowly it progressed towards a stable release).
Nonetheless, if Samsung does launch a One UI 8 beta, it would most likely land first on the newest flagships by the company, the Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25+, and Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Hopefully, if indeed the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 launch with One UI 8, this could indicate other Galaxy phones that support it may get it faster than what the current One UI 7 rollout had been. This should ensure Samsung fans are spared the disappointment of feeling left behind when other Android phone users have already been rocking Android 15 for months.
In the meantime, today, April 7, marks the date for One UI 7’s stable release across the world (at least, the start of it), while users in the U.S. are expected to start receiving the update on April 10. Despite the delays, One UI 7 brings a plethora of things to be excited about, including redesigned widgets, the new Now Bar, camera app redesign, and many more tweaks.
Samsung’s main competitor, Apple, has had a rocky situation with updates as well. Although Apple does release iOS updates on time, usually, its huge blunder with the Apple Intelligent Siri is not going to be forgotten easily.
