Samsung One UI 8.5 Starts Rolling Out AI Features, But Not Everyone Gets the Same Deal

The new stable One UI 8.5 update is being pushed to millions of devices right now. Galaxy S phones going all the way back to the S23 series are on the list to receive it. The update is, of course, sensitive to regional restrictions and a slow rollout to many countries. But more concerning are the rumors of an uneven distribution of AI features on said devices. 

Yes, the Samsung Galaxy S23 series and the Galaxy Z Flip 5/Fold 5 were supposed to get the same One UI 8.5. But these devices are so old that the new AI features do not work properly with their hardware. So they are essentially getting the cut-down version of the One UI 8.5. 

And just to keep an account, we are talking about the new and enhanced Photo Assist, Audio Eraser, Creative Studio on the AI side, and Call Screening on the non-AI side of tools. These features will be dropped on the Galaxy S24 series and up.  

Many news outlets are already warning international Galaxy S23 Ultra users to trade in their devices for $400 right now, before they tank the phone’s trade-in value because of the missing AI features. This lineup will fall out of support in a short time, and people will be lucky to fetch even $200 after that. For more updates of latest Samsung mobile prices and other specs details visit our website.

Not that the Galaxy S23 doesn’t already have a bunch of helpful AI tools to boot. The last One UI 8.0 update was a heavy hitter for it. They added Generative Edit to the OS. Note Assist and Browsing Assist were evenly launched on every Galaxy S phone. And yes, Transcript Assist and Intelligent Bixby were also in tow.

Anyway, the One UI 8.5 in some regions is being reported with a pretty hefty size of 4.5GB download for people who are coming from One UI 8.0. The 8.5 beta testers will grab this update in the form of a patch, so it’s pretty small to download.  

Samsung still hasn’t properly declared any sort of launch timeline for the Galaxy A series’ One UI 8.5 (stable) update. But we’ve heard it has a completely different policy for the new AI features. The phones won’t get the Galaxy AI suite. A special Awesome Intelligence AI package will be created for them, which will be even more limited in terms of new features. Keep watching the news for updates.