Samsung's doing mid-range phones dirty because of Galaxy AI...
The title of this article may suggest that it is about how Samsung is not giving mid-range Galaxy smartphone users the Galaxy AI experience. It is not.
While it would be nice to see Galaxy AI becoming more democratized, so that you don’t have to pay top dollar to use it, a bigger problem is how Samsung is delaying updates for mid-range Galaxy devices because of Galaxy AI.
Impact of Galaxy AI on One UI Updates
Galaxy AI was first introduced with One UI 6.1 on the Galaxy S24 series in early 2024. Impressively, Samsung rolled out almost all Galaxy AI features available on the S24 series to flagship devices dating back to 2022. However, the introduction of Galaxy AI had a major downside: it has significantly slowed the rollouts of One UI updates.
Before 2024, Samsung would roll out x.1/x.1.1 One UI versions to older devices within a month of their initial release. They didn’t just come to flagship devices quickly but to mid-range and budget ones as well. Now that Galaxy AI has entered the equation, that is no longer the case.
One UI 6.1 took two months to start rolling out to older devices after the Galaxy S24 series went on sale. One UI 6.1.1, which debuted in July, did not arrive on other devices until September.
But at least Samsung rewarded owners of eligible flagship Galaxy smartphones for their patience with the whole host of Galaxy AI features. Owners of mid-range and budget phones waited all that time just to get the scraps.
Challenges with One UI 7
Unfortunately, it’s a similar story with One UI 7. Part of the reason One UI 7 still hasn’t come out for devices launched before the Galaxy S25 is no doubt the additional time Samsung requires to make the new AI features work on those devices.
As a result, mid-range and budget phone are once again being forced to sit around twiddling their thumbs even though they will not get most of the fancy new features introduced in the latest version of One UI.
While a super affordable phone like the Galaxy A06 5G is already running One UI 7, premium mid-rangers like the Galaxy A55 will be stuck on Android 14 and One UI 6.1 for at least a few more weeks.
Potential Solutions
What could Samsung do to solve this problem? Well, it certainly is not going to start releasing One UI and Android updates to non-flagship devices before flagship ones. But perhaps it will consider sending out Galaxy AI features in a separate update instead of combining them with One UI updates? I guess time will tell, though I’m not holding my breath.
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