One UI 6.1 is coming soon to recent Galaxy phones, foldables, and tablets.
Right now, you need a Galaxy S24 phone to use the very latest AI features from Samsung, but that’s changing next month. In late March, Samsung will extend Galaxy AI features to the S23 series — including the S23 FE — as well as recent foldables and tablets as part of the One UI 6.1 update. It’s all free for now, but after 2025 you might have to pay up.
The Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 are slated to get the update, as well as the Galaxy Tab S9, S9 Plus, and S9 Ultra. If Samsung wants to ship Galaxy AI to 100 million phones this year like it says it will, that’s a solid start. The One UI 6.1 update will include the much-touted AI features on the S24 series, including live translation capabilities, generative photo and video editing, and Google’s Circle to Search feature. This suite of features includes a mix of on- and off-device processing, just like it does on the S24 series.
An older phone learning new tricks is unequivocally a good thing, even if Galaxy AI is a little bit of a mixed bag right now. But my overall impression is that these features do occasionally come in handy, and when they go sideways they’re mostly harmless. One UI 6.1 will also include a handful of useful non-AI updates, such as lockscreen widgets and the new, unified Quick Share.
If you’d like to upgrade to One UI 6.1 but want to avoid the AI features, you can always turn them off. That’s one easy way to avoid ever coming face to face with something like Pillow Arm.
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Allison Johnson
