Last updated: May 6th, 2026 at 06:05 UTC+02:00
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One UI 8.5 beta program hasn't ended yet, but that isn't stopping Samsung from marching ahead with One UI 9.0 development.
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Max Jambor / SamMobile
As millions of Galaxy users wait for Samsung to begin the official One UI 8.5 rollout, the company has already been working on One UI 9.0 for several devices for at least a few weeks.
It now appears Samsung has also begun internal testing of the first One UI 9 beta builds for the Galaxy S26 series, even though the One UI 8.5 beta program is still ongoing.
The first One UI 9 beta build, based on Android 17, for the Galaxy S26 Ultra has been spotted on Samsung’s servers by Tarun Vats. The firmware carries build number S948BXXU2ZZE7, with the “Z” in the fourth position from the end confirming it is a beta build.
The appearance of the first One UI 9 beta build so early isn’t entirely surprising. Around the same time last year, the first One UI 8.0 build for the Galaxy S25 series was also spotted on Samsung’s servers.
The main difference is that One UI 7 had already started rolling out to some devices by then. One UI 8.5, on the other hand, is still in the beta phase. That’s understandable, however. One UI 8 introduced fewer user-facing changes—compared to version 8.5—despite being based on a new version of Android.
One UI 9.0 is pretty similar in that regard. The early firmware we’ve tested on several devices, including the Galaxy S26 lineup, are pretty tame as far as new features and UI changes go.
With the first One UI 9 beta builds now appearing on Samsung’s servers, we’ll hopefully see the stable One UI 8.5 update begin rolling out to eligible devices soon. The One UI 8.5 beta program has already gone on much longer than Samsung’s beta programs usually do.
Any further delays will only fuel speculation that the company is holding back the official release to encourage more people to buy the Galaxy S26 series. As for the One UI 9.0 beta program, we’ll let you know when we learn more, so stay tuned.
Abhijeet's writing career started with guides for custom firmware for Samsung devices (including the original Galaxy S), and he moved to SamMobile in mid-2013 and worked up the ranks to Editor-in-chief. In addition to phones and mobile devices, his interests include gaming on both PC and console, PC hardware, and spending countless hours on YouTube watching videos on tech, movies, games, politics, and internet dramas.
