Samsung will launch the Galaxy S25 series in mid-January, at which point the new flagship phones will become Samsung’s first Android 15 devices. The Galaxy S25 will launch running Android 15 with One UI 7 on top, after which Samsung will begin updating its other devices to Google’s latest operating system.
That’s hardly a surprise, considering Samsung has never been known for fast Android updates. Also, remember that Google’s Pixel 9 phones launched with Android 14 this year.
However, Samsung will update multiple devices to Android 15, as it has multi-year software guarantees in place. Android 15 is coming, and it’s only a matter of time. Until that happens, Galaxy phone users who want to participate in Samsung’s Android 15 beta test can experience One UI 7 right now.
The first beta is out, and — perhaps also unsurprisingly — Samsung’s One UI 7 looks a whole lot like Apple’s iOS 18.
After so many years of iPhone and Android software updates, we’re used to companies taking inspiration from the competition. Whether it’s Apple, Google, Samsung, or others, you’ll often see some features and designs transition from one platform to another. In this case, we’re looking at iOS design elements that Samsung seems to have borrowed for One UI 7.
Normally, I’d say there’s nothing wrong with that. After all, some handset makers from China put out shameless copies of iOS. Compared to those, One UI 7 is a small-time offender.
But I’m also old enough to remember a particular 132-page Samsung internal guide on how to copy the iPhone UI pixel by pixel. Those days are long behind us, and Samsung has evolved a lot since then. But One UI 7 looks much more like iOS 18 than what I would have expected.
Well-known insider Ice Universe has videos and images showing One UI 7 in action. Perhaps the most surprising change concerns the Dynamic Island-like pill that Samsung introduced in One UI 7.
Apple introduced the Dynamic Island with the iPhone 14 Pro series two years ago. The software trick helped Apple disguise the new pill-shaped notch and became an instant hit. Some Android vendors attempted similar UI designs even though their phones featured smaller hole-punch camera cutouts than the pill-shaped notch.
Samsung did not attemt to make a Dynamic Island alternative with the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S24 phones that launched since the iPhone 14 came out. But One UI 7 has a big pill that will come to all these phones. The design element doesn’t sit at the top of the handset, where the camera is, but at the bottom.
As you can see above, Samsung’s Dynamic Island copy (the Now Bar) can have music playback controls, similar to iOS. Press the pill, and the menu expands. Again, it’s just like Apple’s design. You can also run other apps in the same location. You know, just like Apple.
The similarities don’t end there. Samsung’s Quick Settings panel in One UI 7 resembles Apple’s Control Center in iOS 18. As a reminder, Apple revamped the Control Center this year. We have more menus and customization options than before, and everything can be arranged more neatly and logically.
Samungs new Quick Setting design takes inspiration from Apple’s button shape and sizes. One UI 7 lacks pages for the menu, but that can either be customized by the user or is an oversight Samsung can easily fix by correctly copying Apple’s design ideas.
By the way, the photos above are the closest thing we have to seeing a working Galaxy S25 in the wild. One UI 7 might run on Galaxy S24 phones, but the software experience will be similar between the two devices once Samsung updates this year’s flagships to Android 15. As for the Galaxy S25 hardware, it’ll look a lot like the Galaxy S24, aside from the Ultra model.
Separately, 9to5Mac points out that Samsung might have taken some inspiration from the Apple Intelligence design. Even though Samsung launched Galaxy AI before Apple Intelligence came out, it looks like One UI 7 will have design elements that mimic Apple’s Writing Tools panel available in iOS 18.1.
These comparisons only scratch the surface, but the similarities are clear. It’s only the AI experience and the surface that Samsung is changing. This is still Android 15, with everything Google baked into it and Samsung’s One UI 7 coat of paint on top of it.
Again, it’s not (so) bad. Things could be much, much worse. But remember that only a few months ago, Samsung’s Mobile division angered Samsung’s top chief for copying Apple’s Apple Watch Ultra and AirPods designs. Reports at the time were already whispering that Samsung Mobile might copy iOS elements next. It now looks like the Galax S25 software will indeed resemble the iPhone 16’s.
I think Samsung has grown so much in the past decade that it doesn’t need to replicate Apple’s design so closely. If only it would trust itself to stand out more, the Galaxy S25 could be even better device than it’s expected to be.