The Latest on Samsung

Global smartwatch shipments fell 2% year over year in Q1 2025, while Samsung's shipments dropped 18%, according to Counterpoint data reported by Android Central. That was not just a bad quarter for wearables. China's smartwatch market grew 37% in the same period, and Huawei and Xiaomi both posted shipment gains.

Samsung appears to have briefly posted a full product page for the unannounced Galaxy A27 5G on its Czech Republic website before pulling it down. The listing, according to Los40, citing SamMobile, makes months of Galaxy A27 5G renders look far less speculative: It points to a cleaner design, a Snapdragon chip, four color options, six OS upgrades and six years of security updates, and one notable durability downgrade.

That small green dot in the top-right corner of your Samsung phone is a privacy indicator, not a bug. It means an app is using your camera, microphone, or both. If you also see a faint flicker near the top of the screen during calls, that is usually something else: the proximity sensor.

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Samsung has added a One UI 9 network speed indicator to the Galaxy status bar through an updated QuickStar Good Lock module, and both Android Authority and Sammy Fans confirmed the feature today through hands-on testing on Galaxy S26 Ultra hardware. The catch: it requires One UI 9, Samsung's Good Lock app, and the QuickStar plugin, in that order. None of that chain is available to most Galaxy owners yet, and the feature is off by default even for those who qualify.

Samsung Wallet can now store a passport-backed digital ID accepted at more than 250 TSA checkpoints across the U.S. For frequent domestic travelers on Galaxy devices, that's a genuine convenience upgrade. It is not, in any practical sense, a passport replacement. The gap between those two things is exactly what's worth understanding before you set it up.

A new Samsung Galaxy S27 Pro battery leak suggests the rumored flagship could pack a 5,000mAh cell matching the Galaxy S26 Ultra's capacity in a noticeably smaller body. Tipster kro (@kro_itnyang) shared display and battery details via Digital Trends this week, adding to reports suggesting Samsung may expand its Galaxy S27 lineup from three models to four when it launches in early 2027.

Samsung's Galaxy Watch 9 and Watch Ultra 2 have cleared China's 3C database, with both devices appearing in an official regulatory filing issued June 3. The Galaxy Watch 9 and Watch Ultra 2 3C certification confirms the first concrete hardware spec for either device: 10W charging at 5V/2A, matching their predecessors exactly. Android Police and Android Authority both covered the filings this week under model numbers SM-L3550 and SM-L7150.

Samsung Messages is being discontinued in the US market in July 2026 for devices running Android 12 or later. Samsung has not confirmed whether the phase-out will apply outside the United States.

Samsung is working on a "Gesture Wake-up" feature for Bixby that would let users trigger the assistant by lifting their phone close to their mouth and speaking directly into the mic, no wake phrase or button press required. The feature is taking shape in One UI 9 builds, Android Authority reported today. It isn't in the second One UI 9 public beta for the Galaxy S26 series yet, which means Samsung has not confirmed it for the stable release.

Three separate data trails now point to the same unreleased Samsung product: a clip-style open-ear earbud that, if the Samsung Galaxy Buds Able leak holds up, would be the company's first entry into a form factor where Bose, Sony, and Anker already have established products. It could also be a mechanical answer to a fit problem that has followed the current Buds lineup since launch.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra has a name, a model number, and a place in the regulatory record. A Bluetooth SIG certification filed this week lists the device explicitly as the "Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra," model number SM-F976, with five regional variants, according to Android Authority and Android Headlines, both reporting the filing today. That is what the certification confirms: the retail name Samsung submitted to a regulatory body, and nothing else. The specs, the two-device strategy, and...

Samsung didn't remove lockdown protection from One UI 9. It embedded the feature directly into the power menu, making Samsung One UI 9 lockdown mode automatic the moment you open and dismiss the menu without selecting anything. The phone drops to the lock screen, fingerprint and face unlock are disabled, and a PIN or password is now the only way back in. No dedicated button required, no second tap needed.

The Galaxy Z Flip 8 has appeared in the SGS certification database drawing power at 9V and 2.77A, or 25W wired charging the same ceiling every Z Flip has carried since the Flip 4, Android Authority reported today. If confirmed at launch, Samsung will have shipped five consecutive clamshells without touching the Galaxy Z Flip 8 charging speed.

At MWC 2026 in Barcelona, Samsung Display was on the show floor with a phone that slides upward to reveal more screen. Back home, Samsung's product division was shipping a phone that unfolds twice. Both devices exist. Only one is for sale. That gap between what Samsung's display engineers can demonstrate and what its product team will actually commit to defines the current state of the Samsung rollable phone.

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Video filters have disappeared from Samsung's camera app in One UI 8.5 and the One UI 9 beta quietly, with no announcement from Samsung and no explanation of whether it's a bug or a deliberate cut. Android Central reported the issue this week after Reddit users flagged missing video filters on One UI 8.5, and said it confirmed the missing recording filters on a Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Samsung Certified Re-Newed Galaxy Z Fold7 and Z Flip7: What Buyers Should Know

Samsung's One UI 8.5 has a dark mode problem: the deep AMOLED blacks that Galaxy users expect have been replaced by washed-out grey across the system UI, phone dialer, and Google apps. A workaround exists, Samsung support has confirmed it helps, and a support representative suggested a future update may provide an official fix, though that is not a confirmed roadmap commitment.

Galaxy phone owners using wireless controllers in DeX Mode have dealt with a frustrating input failure since last fall: the moment the phone screen timed out, analog sticks and D-pad inputs went dead. Face buttons kept working. Movement didn't.

Samsung Gallery will stop syncing directly with OneDrive on September 30, 2026. Microsoft's support page, updated earlier this month, sets that as the official cutoff, and Galaxy owners who currently rely on the integration need to update their camera roll settings before that date, not just to keep backing up new photos, but also to keep accessing previously backed-up photos through the OneDrive app.

Samsung Galaxy Connect Now Works on Any Windows 11 PC

Samsung's One UI 8.5 update has begun reaching Galaxy S23 devices, but the Galaxy S23 One UI 8.5 missing AirDrop support is the detail that's generating the most noise. The update brings Quick Share compatibility with iPhones, iPads, and Macs to the S24, S25, and S26 series. The S23 does not get it, Android Authority reported today.

Samsung's One UI 8.5 quietly dropped a camera feature that users have had for years: native video filters in the stock camera app are gone from Video mode. The update, which brings Samsung's latest Galaxy AI and creative tools to more Galaxy devices, carried no public explanation for the removal, and no changelog entry mentions it. Samsung began the official One UI 8.5 rollout on May 6, 2026, starting in Korea, with additional regions and models following afterward.

Samsung has begun pushing the stable One UI 8.5 update to its flagship tablets, starting in South Korea. The Galaxy Tab S11 and Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra are the first Samsung tablets to receive a confirmed stable build in this One UI 8.5 tablet rollout, according to SamMobile. Firmware X736NKOU5BZE3 is now live for the base Tab S11; the Ultra is getting X936NKOU5BZE3. Both builds close out the month-old beta program, per SamMobile.

The big story in the latest Galaxy Z Fold 8 leak is the list of missing features on a phone expected to cost around $2,000. Leaks published this week suggest the device may ship without S Pen support, without the display material Samsung already put in the S26 Ultra, and without the privacy screen technology that debuted on that phone. Leaks suggest the Galaxy Z Fold 8 may miss features already available on the cheaper Galaxy S26 Ultra, and the gap is hard to ignore at this price point.

Talks between Samsung Electronics management and its largest union collapsed Wednesday after marathon negotiations that drew South Korea's labor minister into the room for the first time. With no deal reached, an 18-day Samsung Electronics strike is now underway, the second in the company's history. Union chair Choi Seung-ho confirmed the walkout as he left the mediation session at the National Labor Relations Commission office in Sejong: "The union will proceed as planned and lawfully launch a...

Samsung has published its One UI 9 Good Lock compatibility list, and the 16-to-8 split in favor of working modules obscures what actually matters. The eight modules confirmed incompatible with the One UI 9 beta govern the home screen, lock screen, navigation bar, quick settings, and notifications, surfaces that Good Lock users are most likely to have customized.

Samsung's chip division went from KRW 0.4 trillion in operating profit to KRW 53.7 trillion in three quarters. That earnings swing, and what it says about Samsung's position in the AI memory market, is the reason the Samsung $1 trillion market cap conversation exists. Whether the earnings quality behind that valuation can hold is a separate question, and the answer is already taking shape.

Samsung has relisted the Galaxy Z Flip7 FE on its US storefront, with the 128GB model available again for $899.99 and the 256GB model listed at $999.99. SamMobile reported the restock in early May 2026, , after previously noting that the phone had largely vanished from Samsung's US store for months without any clear indication of whether it would come back. Samsung has not issued a public announcement about the return, and the current product page carries the same standing trade-in offer and...

Samsung has filed a patent for a laptop concept built around a touch-sensitive palmrest that could reduce reliance on modifier keys like Ctrl, Shift, and Alt. The Samsung laptop palmrest patent describes sensors embedded in the palmrest surface that detect whether the user's hand is resting there or lifted away, then route keypresses through a different function layer depending on that state. No product has been announced, and the concept may never reach hardware, as Digital Trends and Daily...

Samsung is offering a free Withings Body Smart scale with select full-price Galaxy Watch purchases in the U.S., but the fine print matters. The promotion applies to Galaxy Watch Ultra, Galaxy Watch8 Classic, Galaxy Watch8, and Galaxy Watch7 purchases made through Samsung.com or the Shop Samsung App from May 4 through July 19, 2026, while supplies last. Samsung lists the scale at $129.95 MSRP, but the offer excludes trade-ins and cannot be combined with other Samsung, carrier, retailer, coupon,...