Samsung users, how goes the wait for Android 15? Yes, dear non-Samsung user, these folks are still on Android 14—except for those who bought the brand-spanking-new S25 series phones
One UI 7 and the Android 15 Rollout
Android 15 will be coming to older phones, like last year’s S24, through a One UI 7 update. For now, only the S25 series is rocking the admittedly impressive One UI 7 software based on Android 15.
Android 15 was launched back in October 2024. Samsung has been upgrading phones to the latest Android version just a couple of months after the official release.
This is the first time in years that Samsung users have not received the upgrade before the end of the year in which an Android version was launched.
Why the Delay?
In Sammy’s defense, One UI 7 is a major update with a massive redesign, so it’s understandable that it would be delayed. What’s not understandable is why the delay has been this bad.
There were rumors that Samsung was delaying the upgrade to entice users to upgrade to the S25 and get the latest software Samsung has to offer.
There is some weight to this argument because it appears One UI 7 was stable enough to launch on the latest S25 series but is somehow not ready for older phones.
Could Google Be the Cause?
Now that the S25 is out and has broken pre-order numbers in several countries, you would have thought One UI 7 would make it to older Samsungs. But no, it’s being said the update could be delayed until April 2025.
Now that’s shocking. Not only is One UI 7 happily humming on the S25, but Samsung released a public beta of the software last year, and it feels stable according to those rocking it.
It just doesn’t make sense that it would be delayed until April when it’s performing superbly already.
This has led some to speculate that there could be more to this story. Some think Google might be to blame. How?
See, one of the major upgrades is the Gemini integration that Samsung phones are getting. However, the Gemini Advanced feature that users are getting is a paid service that’s only free for the first year.
If you didn’t know, Samsung sells a lot of smartphones. 34 million S24 series phones were sold last year, and even more Galaxy A series phones were sold.
It’s reported that Samsung is projecting over 40 million S25 phones shipped this year. That’s a lot of phones all utilizing Google’s AI services.
The speculation is that Google might not be ready to handle that much traffic, and that may be the reason for the One UI 7 delay on older phones.
The Bigger Picture: Are Updates Still a Big Deal?
I don’t know how much stock you can place in these speculations, but that’s what’s floating around out there.
All this said, Android updates aren’t a big deal anymore—although this one is for Samsung. The Android OS has matured, and getting this update later than usual shouldn’t be a big deal. You can sleep soundly on that copium.
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