After the latest One UI 7 issue, I can’t recommend buying a Samsung phone

Shortly after Galaxy S23 owners updated to One UI 7, many noticed a few things were missing. Log video support, Motion Photos, AI Audio Eraser, Photo Ambient Wallpaper, and AI-powered health insights in Samsung Health — all core features of One UI 7 on the Galaxy S25 series — are nowhere to be seen in the software running on Galaxy S23 handsets.

All the more damning is that at least one S23 Ultra owner has gotten all of these features to work on their phone without a problem. So, what gives? Is this a mistake on Samsung’s part? A simple oversight that will be corrected? Or, is the company purposefully withholding these features for newer devices?

We aren’t entirely sure yet, but I do know one thing. The more Samsung keeps fumbling its One UI 7 rollout, the less inclined I am to recommend its phones going forward.

I’ve written about One UI 7’s messy rollout a few times now, and with every article about it that I publish, I think, “Surely, this has to be the last time Samsung messes up.” However, the company has consistently proven me wrong.

The saga of how we got here is already well-documented, but the gist is this: Samsung’s One UI 7 rollout is one of the messiest we’ve seen in modern Android history. It took Samsung six months after Android 15’s rollout to Pixel phones before Samsung finally started shipping One UI 7 to the Galaxy S24 series and the Galaxy Z Fold 6/Z Flip 6 — and then another month after that before One UI 7 was ready for older phones.

Further, those six months were filled with delay after delay and poor communication. And when Samsung finally started One UI 7’s public rollout, the update had to be temporarily pulled due to bugs. The whole thing was as disorderly as it gets.

And now, here we are once again. Almost immediately after One UI 7 started landing on older hardware, we learn that it’s not the update we were expecting. It’s still One UI 7, but it’s missing a long list of some pretty important features — features that, from what we can tell, are fully capable of running on (at least some of) the phones they’re being withheld from.

It’s normal for companies to limit some software features to more modern smartphones. Samsung, Google, Apple, and every other brand does it. But when that happens, we expect a disclaimer about it ahead of time. Samsung never did anything of the sort. Combined with evidence that these features can run on older phones, Galaxy S23 users have every right to feel betrayed.

This is a fairly significant issue on its own, but if it were the first screw-up we’d seen with One UI 7, it’d be much easier to look at level-headed. However, it’s an issue on top of many previous months of issues, and it’s all piled up in a way that I’m struggling to overlook.

At this point in time, considering everything that’s happened with One UI 7 over the last few months, I find myself thinking twice about whether I’m comfortable recommending a Samsung phone right now.

First, it was the fact that Android 15 had been publicly available for months without any communication from Samsung about when its phones would get the update. When One UI 7 was finally available, Samsung botched the rollout and had to put it on hold. Now, with older devices getting One UI 7, users are finding that some of the features they thought would be available aren’t there.

There’s a lot to like about Samsung’s smartphone hardware, and One UI 7 overall is a really strong update — one of my favorite pieces of Samsung software in years. But when Samsung is seemingly incapable of getting One UI 7 in folks’ hands, both on time and with the features they expect, you have to say enough is enough.

These things matter. How Samsung treats you and supports your $1,000+ smartphone matters. Everything that’s happened with One UI 7 has made it feel like Samsung disagrees, and this latest issue of withholding features from phones that are just two years old — phones that are capable of handling those features — reinforces that feeling.

When that’s the case, I have a hard time seeing why I should recommend a Galaxy S25 Ultra over a OnePlus 13 or Pixel 9 Pro. If you’re shopping for a phone right now and are looking at a Samsung one, all of this should give you pause, too. That’s not to say you shouldn’t consider or buy a Samsung handset ever again, but, at least right now, it may be better to keep an eye on the company from the sidelines.