Samsung seems to be wrapping up the One UI 7 rollout, which might be the company’s way of getting ready for One UI 8. Rumors are rife that Samsung could launch the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 at the summer Unpacked event, running One UI 8 right out of the box. Is the Android 16-based One UI 8 perhaps coming a bit too early? Well, not really. We’d say it’s actually landing right on time. Though yes, a few months earlier than the usual window for major updates.
One UI 8 Watch could be the next major update, not One UI 6.5 or 7 Watch
At the same time, tipster @DevOfIpos claims that Samsung will skip One UI 6.5 Watch and One UI 7 Watch altogether. The currently available version is One UI 6 Watch. And according to the tipster, Samsung often aligns the Watch version numbers with the main One UI versions. That’s why Samsung could jump straight to One UI 8 Watch, bypassing both 6.5 and 7.
While digging through code files, the tipster seemingly discovered this upcoming change. In the screenshot shared, we can spot the firmware version L505USQUOAYE2. It includes strings like target_os_version=16 and target_wear_os_version(oneui_major)=8, which further support the theory. The firmware version also indicates it’s a May build (“YE”). You can check out our guide on how to read the firmware version.
Credits: X/@DevOfIpos
Looking closer at the firmware, the first four characters followed by “U” confirm that it’s for SM-L505U. That’s the US variant of the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic. This suggests the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic could ship with One UI 8 Watch out of the box. If that happens, it would mark a major leap. And possibly a move to get Samsung back on the right track.
That said, Google is expected to officially release Wear OS 6 this May at the annual I/O event. That’s when we’ll have more concrete details. For now, it looks like One UI 8 Watch will be based on Wear OS 6. We’ll keep you in the loop with every update.
