It’s probably going to take a while before Google rolls out the stable version of the Android 12 update to a lot of Android devices, and that includes the Samsung update. Normally, it will also roll out with the new UI, in this case, the One UI 4.0 and Samsung doesn’t usually participate in the beta program as it conducts its own. But there’s some news that the update will actually roll out earlier than expected, at least for the Samsung Galaxy S21.
SAM Mobile says that they have received reports that Samsung is already working on the Galaxy S21 Android 12 update. And while that’s not really news as they should be working on it, it’s worth noting that it’s actually a whole month earlier than when they started working on the Galaxy S20 Android 11 update last year. The Android 12 One UI 4.0 is also being worked on and is also a month earlier than last year’s One UI 3.0.
Some people are seeing this as an indication that we might get Android 12 One UI 4.0 earlier than expected. Usually, there’s something in between the old and new UI, a .5 version so it’s expected that the upcoming foldable smartphones this August will get a One UI 3.5. However, there are some reports that we might not get a 3.5 update when the new smartphones launch but that doesn’t mean that they will get One UI 4.0 already. That just means the team is hard at work on 4.0 so no more time for a 3.5.
Based on this timetable, the beta version of One UI 4.0 for the Galaxy S21 is expected to be opened to testers by October 21. So the public version may be released by the end of this year or by early next year. Of course, all this is still speculation at this point. We also haven’t heard anything concrete about what to expect from this new skin based on Android 12 so that’s something we’ll keep a close eye on as well.
Meanwhile, we’ll find out in a couple of months whether the next release really will be One UI 3.1.1 when Samsung unveils its new foldable smartphones. There will be no new Galaxy Note this year and the Galaxy S21 FE will reportedly be delayed so we’re just expecting two new smartphones to be announced at the next Unpacked event sometime in August.
