Poll: Should Samsung ditch One UI so you can get faster Android updates?

Robert Triggs / Android Authority

Right now, Pixel owners everywhere are running Android 15 on their phones. And just earlier today, Google shared that Android 16 is going to be upon us sooner than anyone expected. But the vast majority of Android users out there are still operating devices running Android 14 or older. That includes everyone with a Samsung phone — but does this really need to be the case?

Usually Samsung gets a public beta program running by this time in the year, at least giving particularly eager Galaxy users the chance to try out the latest features a little bit early. But with One UI 7, as Samsung’s implementing Android 15, that timetable has shifted back — and no one seems very happy about this.

Maybe there’s a better way, though. Think about all the work Samsung needs to do in order to get Android 15 and One UI 7 ready for its phones. Beyond making sure that Google’s latest code is all implemented and behaving correctly on the company’s Galaxy hardware, Samsung also needs to spend development and testing time on all of its own features, tweaks, and enhancements that form the backbone of One UI. Even without direct insight into the decisions leading to the delay we’re currently facing, it seems pretty reasonable that the less work Samsung has to do on this software release, the faster it should be able to get it out the door.

Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority

That just got us wondering: Could we maybe just do without the whole “One UI” bit?

While Samsung’s interface has plenty of ardent fans, every time the company goes and thinks about changing something it seems like there’s going to be controversy around it. If everyone’s upset about change anyway, why not make a change that cuts through all the red tape and empower Samsung to much more more limber with its ability to get updates out the door? Why not drop One UI in favor of a lower-overhead approach to Android?

There’s a couple ways that could go. Samsung could try to give its phones a very Pixel-like interface, but that would probably just require a ton of its own development resources in order to keep up with Google’s Pixel-exclusive features. Maybe stock Android is the way to do it. Even then, there’s room to add a dash of style and value without doing it such a heavy manner that it slows development down — sort of like the straightforward approach Motorola takes with its My UX.

The point is, there are options here, and while Samsung may be fully committed to One UI development, we can always dream about what might be if the company ever changes its mind. Do you have any other suggestions for how Samsung could approach OS updates in a way that would still let the company differentiate itself while speeding up releases? Let us know in the comments!

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