What you need to know
- Samsung has reportedly started rolling out One UI 9 Beta 4 (Android 17) to the Galaxy S26 series overseas.
- The beta carries a ~1.25GB download with mostly bug fixes ahead of a hopeful launch for current and past-gen devices.
- Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked is coming up next week (July 22), and the company is expected to debut new foldables and watches.
Android 17’s been out for a few weeks now, and Samsung is continuing to work on its version for Galaxy phones.
Earlier this morning (July 14), SamMobile spotted the Korean OEM rolling out the next version of its Android 17 beta. One UI 9 Beta 4 is rolling out for the Galaxy S26 series; however, the publication reports it’s only been spotted in India. The patch is ~1.25GB and carries the July 2026 security update for the S26 series. So far, it seems that Samsung is more focused on fixing a handful of problems its current flagship series has experienced.
One issue affects the Galaxy S26 Ultra. Samsung states it’s rolling out a fix for the Privacy Display routine. While this routine is running, the changelog states it would “not operate normally” when users turn it on/off in the Quick Panel or Settings. Another issue hampered Galaxy S26 gamers.
It says that the navigation bar would disappear under “certain conditions” while gaming. This should be fixed, alongside a Bluetooth problem. Samsung says a problem crippling its “Bluetooth audio media volume” when connecting to a vehicle should be solved in Beta 4.
The following fixes are also included:
- Fixed an issue where timer notification numbers are cut off or the Ul is unstable in Live notification
- Improved Ul performance issues that occur when opening and closing the Quick Panel
- Improved an issue where the clock size appears abnormal when rotating the lock screen horizontally/vertically
One UI 9 launch soon?
Android Central’s Take
Much like Google, Samsung’s been speed running its development for One UI 9 (Android 17). I hope we don’t run into any major issues that significantly delay this update. We all remember the trials and tribulations we went through for One UI 8.5 on its past-gen phones. Unpacked is soon, and I’m hoping to hear something about its next major OS.
Samsung has been consistent with its beta, rolling updates for it at a near-monthly cadence. Mid-June is when we got Beta 3, which was also over a gigabyte in size. The patch was available early in several overseas regions, similar to what we’ve got with Beta 4. However, that should begin to change. Nevertheless, Beta 3 brought several fixes, such as a solution to a rebooting issue that plagued the S26 series during video streaming.
A focus accuracy at 30x zoom was included, as well as a white screen during calls.
Samsung’s next wave of products is on the way, and there’s a chance One UI 9 is on the horizon, too. We’re expecting the usual suspects: the Galaxy Z Flip 8 and Fold 8. There’s also been hype around a Wide Fold 8, which we could see during this summer’s Unpacked, alongside Samsung’s new smartwatches.