Last updated: June 15th, 2026 at 15:07 UTC+02:00
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It will bring several under-the-hood improvements to the entry-level phone.
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Abhijeet Mishra / SamMobile
Samsung has released two beta releases of One UI 9.0 for the Galaxy S26 series. The company is also working on One UI 9.0 for other devices. Recently, One UI 9.0 firmwares for devices like the Galaxy S25, Galaxy A57, Galaxy A34, and even the Galaxy A17. Now, One UI 9 has been spotted for the Galaxy A16 5G.
An Android 17-based One UI 9.0 firmware was spotted for the Galaxy A16 5G on Samsung's servers. It has firmware version A166BXXU8EZF1 and is being tested for the European market (EUX). However, it is unlikely that the company plans to release a beta version of One UI 9.0 for the Galaxy A16 5G. The entry-level phone will most likely get the stable update directly.
One UI 9.0 doesn't bring a lot of user-facing changes, but includes a lot of under-the-hood changes, as it is based on a major new version of Android. Google has made Android smoother and faster with Android 17. It also made working across devices easier to improve productivity with the app Handoff feature. It also applies stricter memory limitations on apps and games.
Samsung has also implemented a few changes, including a more colorful waveform animation for the music player widget in the notifications and Quick Panel sections. It has also improved the media output screen. One UI 9.0 has more glassy and background blur effects compared to One UI 8.5.
The Galaxy A16 5G could get the stable One UI 9.0 update before the end of this year. The upcoming version of One UI will debut in stable form with the Galaxy Z Flip 8, Galaxy Z Fold 8, and the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra.
Asif is a computer engineer turned technology journalist. He has been using Samsung phones since 2004, and his current smartphone is the Galaxy S23 Ultra. He loves headphones, mechanical keyboards, and PC hardware. When not writing about technology, he likes watching crime and science fiction movies and TV shows.
