An early teaser reveals which phones will make the cut
Samsung makes some of the best Android phones money can buy, and the company is now gearing up to launch the much-hyped Galaxy S23 series on February 1. Alongside new hardware, we also expect the South Korean consumer electronics firm to announce the public rollout of its next big software release, One UI 5.1. Now we’re starting to get a little insight into Samsung’s upgrade plans for its existing Galaxy phones.
Samsung garnered heaps of praise for its speedy One UI 5 rollout, based on Android 13. The company has set a high bar for itself in wanting to do things even faster when Android 14 finally lands, but our hopes are high for what it can do before then with One UI 5.1, as well. Last we heard, Samsung was putting the software through its paces on a handful of Galaxy S22 series devices.
The Galaxy Watch 5’s latest software update includes a changelog that explicitly references the forthcoming arrival of One UI 5.1, as spotted by 9to5Google. Samsung goes on to list the phones compatible with the new Camera Controller functionality for the Galaxy Watch 5, enabled by this update. That feature transforms the wearable into a remote pinch-to-zoom controller for the paired smartphone’s camera.
Piecing two and two together, there’s no doubt Samsung will release One UI 5.1 alongside the Galaxy S23 series early in February. The list of devices supporting Camera Controller is effectively the list of phones which will receive One UI 5.1, and it’s a rather promising one — every flagship released since the Galaxy S20 and Galaxy Z Flip is eligible for the update. This isn’t a tremendous surprise, because we recently reported on chances of the former receiving the new software. According to this, the following phones are in line to get their OTA update to One UI 5.1:
- Galaxy S20 series
- Galaxy S21 series
- Galaxy S22 series
- Galaxy Z Flip
- Galaxy Z Flip 5G
- Galaxy Z Fold 2
- Galaxy Z Flip 3
- Galaxy Z Fold 3
- Galaxy Z Flip 4
- Galaxy Z Fold 4
However, this need not be an exhaustive list of compatible devices, and we have to assume that the One UI 5.1 update will eventually make its way to affordable A-series and M-series Samsung phones, too. They just may not be first in line, nor necessarily support the Camera Controller feature when paired with a Galaxy Watch 5. Hopefully we Samsung publish a more comprehensive list of its update plans in the near future.
