Samsung’s update game is so strong that we’ve begun to expect a bit too much

The last couple of weeks have been pretty exciting for Samsung fans, especially those who own a Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+, or Galaxy S23 Ultra. That's because the company finally started the Android 14 and One UI 6.0 beta program for the Galaxy S23 lineup, with more devices expected to be included in the public beta testing process in the coming days.

The first One UI 6.0 beta update for the Galaxy S23 series was rolled out on August 12th, with a small hotfix update following just a few days later. And for almost two weeks, we have been impatiently waiting for the beta program to progress further and for Samsung to release the second One UI 6.0 beta firmware for the Galaxy S23 series.

The second beta's release is likely to coincide with the expansion of the beta program's availability to additional markets (it's only out in Germany, Korea, and the US for now), which makes the wait extra hard to bear. But it has also made us realize that we might be expecting a little too much from Samsung.

Over the last few days, we have been wondering why Samsung has been moving so slow with One UI 6.0, but then a quick check of the timeline of last year's One UI 5.0 beta program revealed that there doesn't actually seem to be a delay, or at least not a major one. The second One UI 5 beta for the Galaxy S22 lineup was released on August 25 last year, so at the time of this writing, Samsung is late by a mere five days.

One UI 6.0 beta program is progressing normally for now

Yet, our behind-the-scenes discussions would make you think the delay has been a lot longer. And we think Samsung is to blame for our high expectations. Well, okay, that's not an accurate accusation, but we do think we're victims of having unreal expectations because of how strong Samsung's update game has been over the last few years.

In addition to offering long software update support for more devices than any other Android phone manufacturer, Samsung has gotten very good at quickly releasing big new Android and One UI updates. And it has done so while making sure these updates are as bug-free as possible instead of rushing things, and the same is likely to be true for the Android 14 and One UI 6.0 update.

But even if Android 14 / One UI 6.0 take longer than usual to arrive on Samsung smartphones, you won't find us complaining. Being the first with major OS upgrades is frankly the last thing Samsung needs to worry about. Us tech savvy users might prefer getting the latest and greatest software as soon as possible, but the average consumer doesn't like installing updates so often, especially updates that make notable changes to how things look and work.

We also need to remember that Google hasn't pushed the completed Android 14 update to Pixel smartphones, so even if you do think Samsung isn't hurrying as much as you would like, everything is proceeding as usual. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, we can expect most, if not all, eligible flagship Galaxy phones to be on Android 14 and One UI 6.0 before 2023 is over, and perhaps even a mid-range device or two.