Bad news for most Galaxy users.
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Samsung is playing an impossible game of catch-up with Pixel and iPhone. It’s four months since Pixels upgraded to Android 16, and since then Apple has upgraded all iPhones to iOS 26. Meanwhile, Samsung’s One UI 8 is caught in a time loop.
One UI 8 and Android 16 is a critical upgrade. It brings Google’s Advanced Protection Mode to phones, locking down most dangerous settings for an iPhone-like experience. But there are a raft of other privacy and security updates as well. Samsung is Android’s largest OEM with its most expensive flagships. These should all be updated now.
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But per SamMobile, “it has been about three weeks since Samsung started rolling out the One UI 8.0 update for the Galaxy S23 series,” but “the roll out has hit a snag.” And it’s not alone. “We’ve seen Samsung pull the update for other devices like the Galaxy S24 and the Galaxy M53 recently. A similar move was also made for the Galaxy Fold SE and the Galaxy S22 but the roll out was resumed shortly thereafter.”
Android Central describes this as “yet another snag” for One UI 8. “Samsung’s software is no longer accessible by users’ devices; however, it hasn’t explained why.”
Meanwhile, Android Police reports “we saw Samsung pull the One UI 8 update for devices like the Galaxy S22, followed by the Galaxy S24, and other midrange Galaxy devices earlier this month. It now appears that the Galaxy S23 series has also made it to this ever-growing list,” even as updates for the S22 have resumed.
So, why does this matter? It’s not a One UI 8 issue, nor is it about raising alarm bells ahead of One UI 8.5, despite Android Police says “here’s hoping we don’t see a repeat of this with One UI 8.5 next year, which is slated to be a bigger upgrade than One UI 8.”
It matters because seamless, timely — everyone, everywhere — updates have become table stakes for flagship phones. Beta delays followed by a complex, interrupted upgrade schedule should not be a thing in 2025. We have seen it with One UI 7 and now with One UI 8. It’s painful because it’s so different for Pixel and iPhone.
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Users can be excused some serious impatience as a consequence of all this. And all users of the company’s flagships will be surprised at how this is playing out, with most of them affected by the various delays and interruptions.
Per GSMArena says, “the rollout is currently paused, and it’s unclear when it will be resumed, so if you have a handset that’s part of that family and haven’t received the update yet, chances are you’re in for a longer wait than you were expecting.”