Samsung’s software is finally great, and that’s exactly why its phones disappoint me

I've been following the development of Samsung's One UI 8.5 closely, and instead of feeling excited, I’m left with a familiar sense of frustration.

Not because the software is bad — quite the opposite. One UI 8.5 looks excellent.

But seeing this capable software makes me that much more disappointed in the company's seeming unwillingness to also deliver on the hardware front. Samsung’s hardware ambition feels increasingly restrained, and the gap between what Samsung can do and what it chooses to do has never felt wider.

Now One UI 8.5 is nearly here, potentially launching alongside the Galaxy S26 series, and it showcases that Samsung's software crack team is preparing another smash hit.

Samsung software wasn't always great, but the hardware used to be

Things were very different a decade ago.

Back in the day, Samsung phones’ hardware outclassed contemporary rivals like LG, HTC, Sony, and Apple. They had the best displays, the most features, and the best hardware loadouts of all devices around.

Curved screens, iris scanners, and dual-aperture cameras — Samsung’s hardware division was often first come up with innovative features. It was also the largest major phone maker to hold onto the crowd's darlings by retaining microSD cards, headphone jacks, and removable batteries longer than its rivals.

Samsung hardware felt exciting, generous, and occasionally excessive, and in a good way.

At the same time, however, Samsung's software was regularly ridiculed due to the immense bloat that it carried, which didn't play well with the humbler chipsets back in the day. Just mentioning TouchWiz is enough to send a shiver of PTSD through my spine, and while the next-in-line Samsung Experience interface wasn't much better, it was a step in the right direction.

One UI shifted things around… literally

All of that changed for the better with the arrival of One UI. When it came in late 2018, it set the stage for the long future of Samsung software development, and things finally looked up. Samsung finally rethought Android from the ground up: better reachability, cleaner design, smarter defaults.

However, to me, the arrival of One UI largely marks the end of Samsung's desire to experiment and come up with exciting ideas and features for its phones. Innovation ceased, and for the past six years, we have been treated to mostly the same three formulaic flagship devices.

What makes One UI 8.5 good

To me, the coolest feature of One UI 8.5 is the fully customizable quick settings panel. Adjust, add, and resize toggles to your liking! I love that Samsung hasn't gone the easy way of copying Apple's Control Center customization to the T like most China-based Android phone makers; I also respect that it hasn't implemented stock Android 16's Quick Tile customization as is.

The only downside here is that the Quick Settings panel looks a bit barren after a fresh install, and not everyone might care enough to customize it to their liking.

Another cool new feature is the area screen-recording, which lets you record only a select portion of your screen. This can potentially save you a lot of post-processing effort.

One UI 8.5 seems to be implementing more Material 3 Expressive design elements by undocking many search fields and control tabs, and it makes them float at the bottom of the screen for improved reachability.

The lock screen customization is getting much better, with improved detection of subjects that allows the clock face to better integrate with your unique lock screen design. I also love that Samsung has added even more fonts and a new adaptive color option that elevates Samsung's lock screen customization. Frankly, even without using the respective Good Lock module, Samsung's lock screen customization is already my favorite on Android.

Now Brief is also getting tweaked for the better by allowing you to disable the AI-generated Audio Brief voiceover. Disabling unwanted features, especially AI-related ones, is always good in my book.

And yet… the hardware still feels stuck

This is what makes One UI 8.5 so bittersweet.

Samsung’s software team is clearly firing on all cylinders, but what’s missing is the hardware that dares to meet it halfway.

Bigger batteries. Bolder camera solutions. More daring materials.

Samsung isn’t failing, but it is playing it safe — and One UI 8.5 only makes that safety feel more disappointing.

Now, if only they removed the Now Bar too.