Only rolling out to unlocked variants for now
Samsung has been on a roll with its Android 13-based One UI 5 rollout. Since releasing the update for the Galaxy S22 in late October, the company has gone on to seed the Android 13 firmware for its previous flagship and premium devices, including the entire Galaxy S21 series, Note 20, S20, and even the mid-range Galaxy A53. Ideally, the more premium Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 should have also been on the list, but their updates were nowhere to be seen. That’s changing now, as the Korean giant has released the stable One UI 5 build for its latest foldable phones in the US, albeit only for users on the beta channel.
Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Flip 4 users in the US on the One UI 5 beta channel are receiving a 360-400MB update to the BVK3 firmware (via SamMobile). The change log makes it clear that this is the official stable release of Android 13 for the foldables and marks the end of the beta program. So far, all Samsung phones that have received the One UI 5 update contained the October 2022 patch, but the Fold and Flip’s One UI 5 build has the latest November patch.
Besides Android 13, One UI 5 brings deeper Material You integration with dynamic theming support for stock icons. Other changes include an improved Pro mode in the Camera app and enhanced OCR recognition in the Gallery app that no longer requires you to trigger Bixby Vision.
Note that the One UI 5 release is only for the unlocked Fold 4 and Flip 4 models. Carrier-locked variants will receive their update in the coming weeks. Samsung should commence a wider public release of Android 13 for its foldable users who are not on the beta channel early next week.
Given the company’s rapid pace of One UI 5 roll out, it should only be a matter of time before the update makes its way to its 2021 foldables, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Flip 3.
