After the newest One UI 7 difficulty, I can’t advocate Samsung telephones

Shortly after Galaxy S23 house owners up to date to One UI 7, many seen a number of issues had been lacking. Log video help, Movement Photographs, AI Audio Eraser, Picture Ambient Wallpaper, and AI-powered well being insights in Samsung Well being — all core options of One UI 7 on the Galaxy S25 collection — are nowhere to be seen within the software program operating on Galaxy S23 handsets.

All of the extra damning is that at the very least one S23 Extremely proprietor has gotten all of those options to work on their telephone with no drawback. So, what offers? Is that this a mistake on Samsung’s half? A easy oversight that can be corrected? Or, is the corporate purposefully withholding these options for newer units?

We aren’t fully certain but, however I do know one factor. The extra Samsung retains fumbling its One UI 7 rollout, the much less inclined I’m to advocate its telephones going ahead.

I’ve written about One UI 7’s messy rollout a number of instances now, and with each article about it that I publish, I feel, “Certainly, this must be the final time Samsung messes up.” Nevertheless, the corporate has persistently confirmed me flawed.

The saga of how we received right here is already well-documented, however the gist is that this: Samsung’s One UI 7 rollout is among the messiest we’ve seen in trendy Android historical past. It took Samsung six months after Android 15’s rollout to Pixel telephones earlier than Samsung lastly began transport One UI 7 to the Galaxy S24 collection and the Galaxy Z Fold 6/Z Flip 6 — after which one other month after that earlier than One UI 7 was prepared for older telephones.

Additional, these six months had been crammed with delay after delay and poor communication. And when Samsung lastly began One UI 7’s public rollout, the replace needed to be quickly pulled on account of bugs. The entire thing was as disorderly because it will get.

And now, right here we’re as soon as once more. Virtually instantly after One UI 7 began touchdown on older {hardware}, we study that it’s not the replace we had been anticipating. It’s nonetheless One UI 7, however it’s lacking a protracted listing of some fairly vital options — options that, from what we will inform, are totally able to operating on (at the very least a few of) the telephones they’re being withheld from.

It’s regular for firms to restrict some software program options to extra trendy smartphones. Samsung, Google, Apple, and each different model does it. However when that occurs, we anticipate a disclaimer about it forward of time. Samsung by no means did something of the kind. Mixed with proof that these options can run on older telephones, Galaxy S23 customers have each proper to really feel betrayed.

This can be a pretty important difficulty by itself, but when it had been the primary screw-up we’d seen with One UI 7, it’d be a lot simpler to take a look at level-headed. Nevertheless, it’s a problem on high of many earlier months of points, and it’s all piled up in a manner that I’m struggling to miss.

At this cut-off date, contemplating every thing that’s occurred with One UI 7 over the previous few months, I discover myself pondering twice about whether or not I’m snug recommending a Samsung telephone proper now.

First, it was the truth that Android 15 had been publicly out there for months with none communication from Samsung about when its telephones would get the replace. When One UI 7 was lastly out there, Samsung botched the rollout and needed to put it on maintain. Now, with older units getting One UI 7, customers are discovering that among the options they thought can be out there aren’t there.

There’s loads to love about Samsung’s smartphone {hardware}, and One UI 7 total is a extremely robust replace — considered one of my favourite items of Samsung software program in years. However when Samsung is seemingly incapable of getting One UI 7 in people’ fingers, each on time and with the options they anticipate, you must say sufficient is sufficient.

These items matter. How Samsung treats you and helps your $1,000+ smartphone issues. Every part that’s occurred with One UI 7 has made it really feel like Samsung disagrees, and this newest difficulty of withholding options from telephones which can be simply two years previous — telephones which can be able to dealing with these options — reinforces that feeling.

When that’s the case, I’ve a tough time seeing why I ought to advocate a Galaxy S25 Extremely over a OnePlus 13 or Pixel 9 Professional. In the event you’re looking for a telephone proper now and are a Samsung one, all of this could provide you with pause, too. That’s to not say you shouldn’t take into account or purchase a Samsung handset ever once more, however, at the very least proper now, it might be higher to keep watch over the corporate from the sidelines.