Samsung released the Galaxy S25, S25 Plus and S25 Ultra phones in February of this year, premium Android devices that were also the first Samsung phones to run One UI 7, the firm’s new software based on Android 15.
Unlike competitors such as Google and OnePlus, Samsung opted to wait until the launch of its 2025 phones to debut its take on Android 15. Google’s Pixel 9 phones have run Android 15 since October 2024, and in previous years, Samsung has pushed out the latest Android version to its existing flagship phones as soon as possible. Older Pixel phones dating back to 2021’s Pixel 6 have already received an update to Android 15.
Ignoring this usual timeline for Android 15 has meant that the Galaxy S24 series launched in January 2024 is still without One UI 7 in most regions, though Samsung recently confirmed it was starting to push the new software in a free update to S24, S24 Plus, S24 Ultra, Z Flip 6 and Z Fold 6 from April 7.
But now it seems these well-laid plans have hit a snag, and Samsung has had to halt the rollout of One UI 7 to older phones such as the Galaxy S24 line up.
“The One UI 7 rollout schedule is being updated to ensure the best possible experience,” a Samsung spokesperson told Express.co.uk. “The new timing and availability will be shared shortly.”
The delay was first spotted by tech tipster Ice Universe (via The Verge).
“After the Korean Galaxy S24 series firmware was pushed, a serious bug was found, which led to the suspension of the push plan in all other countries, including China,” Ice Universe said in a post on X.
“The reason for the delay in the Galaxy S24 push is that users of the official version of One UI7 of the Korean S24 series found that “they could not be unlocked normally in some cases,”” Ice Universe said in a separate X post.
This appears to suggest a bug had arisen where S24 owners could not unlock their phones after updating to One UI 7, which is a pretty bad bug as far as bugs go.
Before Samsung confirmed the delay to Express.co.uk, The Verge reported it had “confirmed that the update is no longer listed on Samsung’s servers as the latest firmware version across several Galaxy devices, with older patches appearing instead.”
According to Android Authority, the issue might only be affecting S24 devices with the Exynos 2400 processor, which applies to the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Plus phones sold in the UK, which use the Samsung-made processor. These models in the US and other regions use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, as do all models of the S24 Ultra, no matter the region.
It’ll be interesting to see if Samsung has struggled to release a stable version of One UI 7 for phones that use its own processor. One UI 7 is currently available on the Galaxy S25 phones, all models of which have the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, even in the UK.
As for owners of older Samsung phones, the wait for Android 15 looks set to continue.