When you first see the leaked One UI 8.5 build running on a Galaxy S25 Ultra, it is clear Samsung is cooking up something special. Android Authority showcased this early firmware, revealing rounded corners, pill-shaped icons, and bottom bars that signal a major shift in Samsung's design philosophy. While SamMobile demonstrated features like the fully customizable quick settings panel and Direct Voicemail in their hands-on video, the firmware remains buggy and incomplete, hinting at Samsung's direction ahead of the expected Galaxy S26 series launch.
What makes this design refresh so significant?
Samsung is reimagining core interface elements in ways that feel familiar yet new. The standout shift is the spread of pill-shaped icons and bottom bars across the interface, a look that ties screens together instead of treating each app like an island. The Settings menu gets a softer look with more rounded corners and added spacing, so the layout breathes. The search bar relocates to the bottom of the screen, a tweak Samsung first introduced in the One UI 8 app drawer, and it fits the one-handed patterns people actually use.
There is a dash of iOS energy here, and it works. The Settings app now features a bottom-aligned search bar and a floating back button, a choice that favors reachability over tradition. Menu items have become more compact with subtitle text removed, and subtle shadows on containers lend a premium, less cluttered feel.
Small touches matter too. The traditional battery icon disappears in favor of a simple percentage readout. One glance, one number, less noise.
The quick settings revolution
The big swing is the new quick settings panel. The Quick Panel is fully customizable, allowing users to resize and rearrange toggles, move them around, and make controls like the brightness slider vertical. Not a minor tweak, more like a control board you set up to match your habits.
How often do you pull that shade down each day? If Wi, Fi and hotspot are your go, tos, make them huge. If you prefer a vertical brightness slider, change it. This is the kind of personalization Samsung fans have been asking for, a clear step away from the one, size, fits, all layouts of old.
Notifications see polish as well. Notifications appear cleaner with better contrast. On the lock screen, a blurred notifications background helps text pop against busy wallpapers, a practical upgrade you notice the first time your photo clashes with a banner.
Several core Samsung apps are getting a new look and features. The Phone app adds a floating tab bar and Direct Voicemail, and Samsung is tuning Gallery, My Files, and Camera to match the new language while tightening how they work.
Apps get the Material 3 treatment
One UI 8.5 leans into a refreshed design philosophy inspired by Google's Material 3 principles, emphasizing simplicity, cohesion, and visual clarity. You can see it in adaptive color and system, wide theming, not just in a press slide. Apps such as Quick Share and My Files now include gradient elements, giving screens a modern sheen and a clearer visual hierarchy.
Samsung is bringing the floating tab bar to more of its apps, including the revamped Gallery app. Consistency pays off when you bounce from photos to files to calls, less re, learning every time you switch.
The lock screen does not sit still either. Samsung has introduced new clock styles that are fairly cartoonish in nature, utilizing curves and gradients, with one of the two including a vertical orientation option. It is playful, more personality, more ways to make the phone feel like yours.
Looking ahead: what this means for Galaxy users
Samsung is preparing something special. While the early build does not represent the final software and does not showcase all new features, it sets a clear course. The One UI 8.5 firmware is still in early stages of development, and the aim is obvious, a more customizable, better looking interface that borrows smart ideas without losing Samsung's power user DNA.
Samsung will likely roll out One UI 8.5 alongside the Galaxy S26 series in early 2026, which leaves time to polish and to layer on features we have not seen yet. The current glimpse points to Samsung's well-rounded update that combines aesthetic improvements, AI-driven features, and practical usability upgrades.
The leaked footage shows the firmware remains buggy and incomplete. That is par for an early build. The vision, though, is unmistakable, more control for users, modern visuals, and the same reliability Galaxy owners expect, a promising direction shaped by feedback from earlier One UI releases.
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