Samsung's One UI 7 is skipping the cool stuff - for Galaxy S22 owners at least

It seems confirmed now that Galaxy S22 owners won't get to enjoy all One UI 7 has to offer, including some nice AI features.

Samsung's One UI 7 update rollout has been rocky: it got delayed, the schedule was revised, and in some places, the update for the Galaxy S24 was even halted and then resumed. Now, the Galaxy S22 phones also support One UI 7, so the owners of these phones are also going to enjoy the Android-15-based update. However, it seemingly may be missing some of the coolest features.

A video has now emerged online showing a Galaxy S22 Plus running One UI 7. The update has not yet been sent out to Galaxy S22 devices though, but it's been spotted on the S22 Plus, installed using an emulator for developers.

The video has been posted on Reddit. Remote Test Lab, an emulator for developers to test their apps on simulated Samsung devices, was used for us to get a glimpse of the Galaxy S22 Plus' One UI 7.

Unfortunately, it becomes clear that none of the hot new Galaxy AI features already on the Galaxy S25 phones will be reaching this model. We were already aware the Now Brief feature will remain exclusive to Samsung's latest flagships. But even the Now Bar appears to be trimmed down for the older flagship model.

We also have Audio Eraser, one of the new Galaxy AI features on the Galaxy S25, which has not made the cut for the older model. The Audio Eraser lets you remove six kinds of noises and audio from videos. The Galaxy S22 may also not enjoy a few other minor AI features.

As for the Now Bar, it's a dynamic UI element reminiscent of the newer iPhones' Dynamic Island. The feature displays information and controls, such as music playback on your lock screen (or other active apps), so it gives you info and control without you having to unlock your device.

On the Galaxy S22 Plus running the new software in the emulator, the Now Bar appears to only allow you to control media playback.

Despite all of that, Galaxy S22 owners will nevertheless get the new looks and tweaks of One UI 7. For now, it's probably at some point next month that Samsung will start releasing the update for these phones.

Not having all the features available on older devices is not a practice exclusive to Samsung. Apple does it too, with the entire Apple Intelligence suite not available for iPhones older than the iPhone 15 Pro (yep, the iPhone 15 is not supporting it either).