Millions More Galaxy Phones Just Joined Samsung's Free Upgrade List
Samsung's One UI 9 rollout just passed a real milestone, the first stable build for the Galaxy S26 Ultra has been spotted, alongside fresh testing confirmed for the Galaxy A57, A37, Galaxy S25, and even the Galaxy Z TriFold. That brings the confirmed testing and development lineup to nearly Samsung's entire current device range. Here's every device involved, what's actually new in One UI 9, and a realistic look at when your phone might see it.
Samsung's One UI 9 rollout continues to expand quickly, and this week brought the clearest sign yet that a public release is finally close.
According to Fahad Ali Javed on X (via SamMobile), the first official stable One UI 9 build for the Galaxy S26 Ultra has now been spotted on Samsung’s servers, which is a genuine milestone after four beta iterations.
That’s no guarantee of an imminent release, stable builds typically surface a month or more before the public rollout, but Samsung Unpacked happens next week and that’s likely when One UI 9 will be officially launched alongside the company’s new foldable phones. We’ll have a clearer picture then of Samsung’s One UI 9 rollout plans for older devices.
Elsewhere, firmware tracker Tarun Vats has confirmed new One UI 9 test builds for the Galaxy A57 and Galaxy A37. Samsung has also begun developing and testing One UI 9.0 for the Galaxy Z TriFold, according to Vats, alongside screenshots that show an internal One UI 9 build running on a Galaxy S25 Plus.
So far, recent One UI 9 beta releases have most been about fixing stability issues such as problems camera preview cropping, an inaccurate 30x zoom focus, and lock screen weather and battery widgets not updating. But there are new features in the updates.
Accessibility tool users are getting some meaty additions in One UI 9, for example. There’s a new Text Spotlight tool for easier reading, Select to Speak lets users highlight text to hear it read aloud, and TalkBack has been rebuilt so Samsung can push improvements through the Play Store instead of waiting on a full system update to fix or add anything. There are also new keyboard shortcuts.
On the security side, testers have also spotted a new message on the power menu: "For your security, your phone is locked," which now requires your PIN or pattern to unlock again once you return from that screen, closing a small but real gap where biometrics alone previously let you back in.
That sits alongside Secure Lock, a feature Tarun Vats spotted in an earlier beta that adds a dedicated Quick Panel button, tap it and your phone instantly disables biometrics entirely, dropping back to PIN, pattern or password only. Useful if you're handing your phone to someone or worried about being forced to unlock it.
The headline feature everyone’s actually waiting for, Gemini Intelligence, still isn’t in any of these test builds. Samsung and Google’s agentic AI suite, capable of handling multi-step tasks like booking reservations, likely arrives publicly for the first time at Unpacked London on July 22nd, alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 8. Check out my thoughts here on the safety of agentic AI on your phone.
That brings the confirmed One UI 9 testing and development lineup to the Galaxy S23 series, S24 series, S25 series, S26 series, A15, A16, A34, A35, A36, A37, A55, A56, A57, M35, M36 Z Fold 6, Z Flip 6 and now the Z TriFold, alongside the Galaxy S26's first stable build.
Samsung’s Unpacked event in London next week will likely be when One UI 9 officially launches, alongside the company’s new foldable phones. Stable builds for existing Galaxy phones should start rolling out in the weeks after that. Having nearly the entire device range in testing simultaneously doesn’t mean an imminent release for any one of them individually, but it does suggest Samsung is planning a fast and wide rollout of the update.