Samsung Galaxy S25 reportedly gets One UI 8 update already, with video showing several new features

The Samsung Galaxy S25 family launched with One UI 7 and Android 15 in February and while the rest of the Samsung world has been dealing with update delays, leaks surrounding One UI 8 have given us a glimpse of what to expect next.

In the latest twist of the tale, one Galaxy S25 owner found themselves with One UI 8 on their phone. Android Central, who spotted that Topraks9plus on X was sharing this information, speculates that this could be a pre-release build that some users get to try before an update is pushed out on a larger scale.

Sharing plenty of screens – and a short nugget of video too – we get to see smooth app opening and closing, and that the Now Bar now includes more content.

Samsung's Now Bar was introduced in One UI 7, one of a handful of new features, but I didn’t find it to be super-useful when I first tried it. Any additions could improve it, therefore.

We also get to see changes to the clock, including the addition of complications. There's an expansion of virtual RAM up to 16GB from 12GB on the S25 Ultra. And we get to see some background blur effects when choosing which app to use when opening a link.

Background blurring seems to be something that Android will using in a more aggressive way in Android 16. Having recently seen details leak about Material 3 Expressive, as well seeing Android 16 design changes in the beta, it looks like backgrounds will be a focus for our phones.

When will the One UI 8 update arrive?

The appearance of One UI 8 isn’t a surprise, but the timeline is all adrift because Google has pulled forward the launch date of Android 16 compared to previous years.

Android 15 was released in October 2024, but Android 16 is expected to be ready by June 2025.

That leaves Samsung – who is still rushing to get Android 15 updates in place – facing a quick hop across to Android 16.

One UI 8 is likely to make its official debut on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7, which we are expecting to see in July. It’s then expected that it will roll out to other devices, with the Galaxy S25 Ultra likely to be the first to update.

But with big changes coming to Android’s design language thanks to Material 3 Expressive, it’s not clear whether we’ll see One UI 8 incorporating those things, or if Samsung owners will have to wait until One UI 9 to catch up with any design changes that Google might want to push itself.