What you need to know
- A rumor claims that Samsung may bring A/B update support for its Galaxy S25 series, making it the first flagship to do so.
- The Galaxy A55 supports seamless updates, meaning users can continue to use their device while an update is downloaded on a separate partition.
- Samsung's VP claimed in 2022 that the company wanted to do so for One UI 6; however, reality shows that it didn't happen.
Samsung's next flagship series is rumored to adopt a new update method that Google pushed for with Android earlier this year.
Tipster Chunvn8888 posted on X that Samsung's Galaxy S25 series could receive support for Android's A/B update method (via Android Authority). This is good news considering Samsung's flagship series has consistently ignored this new update method.
The tipster notes that the only Samsung phone to receive A/B support is the Galaxy A55, which launched in March.
In February, the company pushed all OEMs to adopt the A/B (seamless) update method on Android. It was discovered in the AOSP that the company planned to remove support for non-A/B updates. This was seen as the (hopeful) nudge Samsung needed to bring A/B support to its flagships — and it might work.
If the rumors are true, Galaxy S25 users can continue using their device as it updates using a separate partition. An active partition runs in the background, grabbing the update's information before slotting it into an inactive partition. This is done without disrupting the user's activities.
However, once completed, the prompt to restart appears, and the device will briefly refresh as it switches to that once-inactive partition with the update.
Take this rumor cautiously as Samsung's VP once claimed the company wanted to introduce the A/B method for devices through One UI 6. It's unclear what the hang-up was, but reality shows that the Galaxy S23 did not debut with seamless updates.
What's more, Google implemented a fix for its seamless updates last year, which made them much faster. Regardless, Samsung confirmed during its Q3 2024 earnings call that it plans to launch the Galaxy S25 series "in the first half of next year." With that, the company plans to continue to innovate and upgrade its on-device Galaxy AI experience.
