Galaxy S21 FE’s One UI 8.5 update now in doubt

Could the Galaxy S21 FE reach the end of its support period without receiving the One UI 8.5 update? If a Samsung customer care representative is to be believed, the answer is yes. This information comes from Samsung India’s customer care team responding to a user query (via Saurabh).

While this may sound like bad news, there’s a good chance it isn’t. Samsung’s customer care representatives typically don’t have accurate information about upcoming updates for Galaxy devices. That’s likely the case here as well, especially since Samsung has historically released every minor One UI update for flagship devices that received the underlying Android version.

The Galaxy S21 FE is guaranteed to receive security updates until January 2027, something the customer care representative also pointed out, and it's unlikely that Samsung would continue rolling out security patches without bringing One UI 8.5 to the device.

That said, things could play out differently this year. Samsung has changed how it handles minor One UI updates starting with One UI 7. Instead of releasing One UI 7.1 and 7.1.1, Samsung jumped straight to One UI 8. One UI 8 will be followed by 8.5 and then by One UI 9, which has already surfaced in leaks for at least one Galaxy smartphone.

Ultimately, we’ll have to wait and see what happens. One UI 8.5 hasn’t been released in stable form for any eligible Galaxy smartphone as of February 23, and it isn’t expected to roll out until March after the Galaxy S26 series has gone on sale.