Samsung's rollout of One UI 7 based on Android 15 is still ongoing, after several major delays. And yet, the company is now said to be almost ready to release the first beta of One UI 8 based on Android 16.
According to a new report, this will go out in the third week of this month, earlier than the mid-June date rumored mere hours ago. However, there's a twist. The May release will allegedly not be as widely available as previous betas have been, instead only "select devices in limited markets" will get it.
Then, in June, there will be a wider rollout - so we assume this is what the previous rumor was talking about. While it's great to see Samsung readying the One UI 8 beta program, this doesn't necessarily tell us anything about when to expect the finalized build to roll out. The first One UI 7 beta came out many, many months before the final version finally became available.
Hopefully history won't repeat itself and we'll get One UI 8 sooner, especially seeing as how Google plans on releasing Android 16 by the end of June. One UI 8 is meant to refine the One UI experience, but it's not as big an update as One UI 7, which gives us hope that the final release won't take as long.