Joe Maring / Android Authority
TL;DR Samsung is expected to initiate One UI 8.5 beta next month.
The Galaxy S25 series could be among the earliest devices to be eligible for the beta.
The final update may arrive alongside the Galaxy S26 early next year.
After a laggard rollout of One UI 7 earlier in the year, Samsung turned the narrative in its favor with the speedy release of its One UI 8 interface. But even with One UI 8 in its initial phases, Samsung is gearing up to dish out another major update with a horde of visual and operational changes.
Samsung’s One UI 8.5 is expected to arrive early next year, in line with the company’s usual launch cycle for the new Galaxy S series. However, the beta will kick off much sooner, and SamMobile indicates it could be as soon as next month.
According to the report, the One UI 8.5 beta program is expected to start sometime during the last week of November, specifically the week beginning November 24. It doesn’t specify which devices will be covered under the update, but it’s natural to expect the Galaxy S25 series to be supported. As with the One UI 8 beta, Samsung might limit this release to just the Galaxy S25 series currently.
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We would still expect Samsung to release a stable update alongside, or around, the launch of the Galaxy S26 series. However, it’s difficult to say with confidence, with changes to the standard schedule. The regular One UI version updates (One UI 7, 6, or earlier, for instance) used to coincide with the Unpacked events early in the year. In contrast, mid-cycle (or x.5) updates used accompany the foldables during the launch in the middle of the year.
That, however, changed with One UI 8, primarily because One UI 7 was excessively delayed, and secondly because Google itself changed the typical timeline for Android developer beta updates. As a result, One UI 8 brought minimal upgrades, while One UI 8.5 is expected to bring a bigger refresh.
This is perhaps also the first mid-cycle update from Samsung to get its separate beta. But that said, we might be wrong, and there’s a (very slim) chance that Samsung might release a stable update much sooner than the usual cycle.
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