After months of beta versions and some mystery around which devices will receive advanced AI tools, Samsung has finally confirmed the One UI 8.5 release date for 25 Galaxy phones and tablets. But is your phone included in the list?
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Samsung is rolling out its latest OS update, One UI 8.5 (which is built on top of Android 16), to millions of Galaxy phones and tablets this week. The release started on May 6th and brings a new UI design and new AI features to select phones. Here’s the full list.
Samsung users in Korea will receive the update first, with North America, Europe, Hong Kong, India, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Taiwan following on May 11th, according to SamMobile. To download One UI 8.5, head to settings and then click on software update; if it’s available, it will appear there.
Older flagships, like the Galaxy S23 series and earlier, will have to wait longer, as will Galaxy A device owners. Those handsets will also receive a different experience than the phones listed above.
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is set to receive One UI 8.5 with several new AI features from the Galaxy S26 series (Photo by Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
NurPhoto via Getty Images
If you’re in the first batch of phones to receive the One UI 8.5 update, you will get the full experience, which includes four new AI-powered tools that originally debuted on the Galaxy S26:
Horizontal Lock in Super Steady Mode, which debuted as one of the major videography upgrades in the Galaxy S26 camera app, may also make its way down to Samsung phones released after 2024, according to a moderator on the Samsung community forums. The feature mimics the stability a gimbal offers using AI, but it’s not clear when it will land or what devices it will come to. Read more about that here.
If, however, you own a Galaxy phone released in 2023 or before, your One UI 8.5 experience will be different. It won’t come with the above tools. However, there is an updated design with new animations and some fresh tools, such as the Privacy Alerts feature, which provides transparency on how apps access your data.
The most notable AI upgrade is the newly intelligent Bixby, which is now powered by Perplexity AI. Bixby can now understand natural language to find features or change settings on the phone when asked.
For example, instead of digging through menus, you can tell Bixby to turn on settings such as Quick Share. You can also ask more complex questions, like how to conserve battery life without losing too much functionality, which will trigger a list of tips. Read more about Bixby’s new skills here.
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