Samsung’s been promising the imminent arrival of the Android 12-based One UI 4.0 beta program for over a month now, and the moment of truth has finally arrived. As you probably already heard, the first One UI 4.0 beta build is now live for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+, and Galaxy S21 Ultra in select markets.

Customers can now choose to test the new firmware and provide feedback before the update becomes polished enough for public release. Alternatively, Galaxy S21 users can just ignore the One UI 4.0 beta program and continue using One UI 3.1(.1) for the time being until the first One UI 4.0 public build is ready for the masses.

Samsung is working on launching Android 12 and One UI 4.0 this year

Samsung was unable to offer an exact launch date for the first One UI 4.0 live build — after all, the purpose of testing throughout the beta phase is to determine how ready the firmware is for a widespread release. Without further resting, there’s no way to schedule an exact date for One UI 4.0 to leave the beta stages.

Fortunately, with the release of One UI 4.0 beta, Samsung was able to at least narrow down the release time frame for the first public build. The company confirmed that it is working on “delivering a final, optimized upgrade later this year.” Still not convinced of Samsung’s intentions? Well, the company also added that feedback received from beta participants will be analyzed and “potentially implemented ahead of One UI 4’s official launch date in 2021.”

Of course, it’s too early for these statements to guarantee that One UI 4.0 will go live to the public before the end of 2021, but it’s certainly reassuring to know that Samsung is aiming for a late 2021 launch. Let’s hope that everything goes according to plan.