Your Samsung Galaxy phone is about to look very different – thanks to One UI 7

Big interface changes?

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The beta launch ofSamsung’s One UI 7, based onAndroid 15, could bejust days away– and new leaks have given us some idea about the sort of design changes that might be coming to the interface of your Galaxy phone.

This sneak peek comes courtesy ofSmartprix, and follows on from previous leaks around a change to the interface that might take a few pointers fromiOS 18. It seems that some pretty significant interface changes are in the pipeline.

We’re going to get a whole new set of icons, apparently, with gradients and shadows to create more of a 3D effect. The icons are also going to come with a more rounded look, so they’ll look substantially different on home screens and in the app drawer.

The rounded effect will be making its way to menus and other screens as well, according to this leak, with parts of the interface including Quick Actions, the notification panel, and the settings screens getting softer edges.

Cameras and islands

One UI 7 has no dynamic islandIt just has an ellipse icon on the status bar for prompting. In One UI 6, there was only a call display. In One UI 7, other functions have been added, such as stopwatch and recording. I think the expansion of this smart function is not imitating… pic.twitter.com/26tKlax2a2July 25, 2024

It looks as though the interface of the camera app is in line for an overhaul too. All of the major controls, including the camera modes and the zoom shortcuts, have been moved down to the bottom – which should mean it’s easier to take photos with one hand.

Elsewhere, it looks as though Samsung is experimenting with aDynamic Islandof its own on its Galaxy phones, to match the iPhone. Well-known tipster Ice Universe hasadded some more detailabout how this is actually going to work.

We’ve also got smoother animations and separate panes for notifications and settings, apparently – not unlike iOS. All of this is subject to change of course, while the software goes through its beta testing phase.

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Another post by Ice Universesuggests that the One UI 7 software is “full of bugs” and “almost unusable” – so it seems as though even if the update is launched in beta in the next few days, it’s going to take a while to get it into its finished form.

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Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you’ll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.

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