Samsung tests OneUI 8 with Android 16 for budget smartphones

OneUI 8 is already available on the flagship Galaxy Z Fold 7, Z Flip 7 and Z Flip 7 FE. The Galaxy S25 series will receive a public beta from the end of May 2025. Budget phones from any manufacturer usually receive updates later. However, there is information about the start of testing the new shell on Samsung smartphones in the budget segment.

It became known that the update is already being tested on Galaxy F34, Galaxy M36, Galaxy A56, M33, F15, and A06 5G smartphones. Testing is taking place in India, Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and other regions.

When to expect the update:

The stable release of One UI 8 is expected in August 2025, barring any delays. For budget models that are not part of the public beta, Samsung usually releases a stable version immediately after internal testing. That is, most likely, the update is already in the process of being debugged on more models, but users simply do not have the opportunity to get the beta version of the firmware.

What's new in One UI 8 (Android 16)

Galaxy AI: Listen Brief, improved Live Translate, Circle to Search, dynamic time-of-day wallpapers, deeper integration with Google Gemini Live.

Restrictions: Samsung is removing the ability to unlock the bootloader in One UI 8, even in regions where it was previously allowed - it will no longer be possible to install custom firmware.

Other changes: Some features (such as the responsive lock screen) will be removed for stability on weak devices. Quick Share now allows you to transfer up to 10 GB of data per day.

Conclusion.

This year, thanks to the efforts of Google and smartphone manufacturers, the Android 16 update is rolling out to users' devices faster than ever. It's nice that Samsung doesn't forget about users of low-cost phones. If we add to this the extension of the update period by many manufacturers to 5-7 years, we can say that iPhone supporters have fewer and fewer arguments.