Samsung’s One UI 7 may make your phone look different

Summary

• A prominent source has suggested that Samsung’s upcoming One UI 7 software could introduce big design changes, including redesigned icons.
• Not much is known about Samsung’s plans for One UI 7, although recent reports suggest the software’s beta release has been delayed.
• Samsung could roll out the stable version of One UI 7 by November or December following a couple of beta releases.

Samsung is currently working on the wider release of One UI 6.1.1, which debuted with the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 last week. But at the same time, the company is also looking ahead to the next-generation version of One UI, which will be based on Android 15. We’ve known since early May that One UI 7 was in development, though we haven’t heard much about what it will bring to the table. But that’s changing now with a credible source of Samsung leaks giving us our first info about One UI 7’s visual changes.

In a post on X, Ice Universe revealed that the upcoming Android 15-based software “may be the most changed version” in its history. The leaker also claims that the icons will be “redrawn,” suggesting a significant revamp of One UI 7. There are no images to back up this claim, but we should know if it holds up as the first One UI 7 beta arrives sometime in the next couple of months.

We’ve recently learned that Samsung may delay One UI 7 beta’s arrival for current flagships like the Galaxy S24 and instead roll out One UI 6.1.1. This update is expected to patch a couple of camera-related issues on the early 2024 flagship, which hasn’t seen a major software update since its launch.

Is the vertical app drawer coming back?

Since Samsung hasn’t released its first One UI 7 beta yet (and that won’t change for another month or two at least), we are yet to ascertain what’s new with the software. But information revealed by a Samsung Community moderator in April suggests that at least one big change could be on the cards — a vertical app drawer (via SamMobile).

It’s worth noting that a report prior to this development suggested that the vertical app drawer could be restored with One UI 6.1.1 via the Home Up Good Lock module. But it’s possible that Samsung now wants this change to be a part of One UI 7.

There’s currently no fixed timeline for the arrival of One UI 7 stable, though it’s likely that owners of flagship Galaxy devices will get it sometime in November or December. We should get a good idea about what’s new with One UI 7 much before that, as Samsung generally releases a couple of beta versions of its One UI software before making it widely available to everyone. Last year, the first One UI 6 beta arrived in August.