The ride to the official One UI 7 release has been long and bumpy. Usually, a new version of One UI is rolled out to existing devices a couple of months before the next Galaxy S flagship is announced. With One UI 7, Samsung flipped the script and decided to do things the other way around.

As a result, the company also delayed the One UI 7 beta program. The Galaxy S24 series got the One UI 7 beta in early December, and it took Samsung a little over three months to release the beta for other devices.

Fans have not taken kindly to this, as expected. One UI 7 is a fantastic update that got people excited when they finally got to see it in action. But that excitement was soon replaced by apathy as week after week passed by without any word on when the official release will take place.

But, at long last, Samsung has answered that burning question. After all the waiting we have endured, it feels incredibly satisfying. The One UI 7 release date reveal feels akin to finding a drop of water after wandering in the desert for months. Of course, some perished along the way, as in they lost interest. But for others, March 18, 2025 was a great day.

How long will this euphoria last, though? And how long will it take for the One UI 7 update to reach every compatible smartphone and tablet? Samsung says the update will start rolling out from April 7 to flagship devices launched in the last two years, but the list of eligible devices is far longer, and for owners of those devices, there is still no communication from Samsung.

There's also the question of how this slow One UI 7 rollout will affect One UI 8. Unfortunately, it's too early to tell. Even if One UI 7 was already out, we would still be waiting for details on One UI 8 for at least a few months more, so the only thing we can do for now is hope that One UI 7 will end up being an outlier instead of a paradigm shift.