Those who have had a taste of One UI 7 on older Samsung flagships say it has a completely new feel and smoother performance while maintaining the same DNA. That was part of the reason that I didn’t care too much when the end of 2024 came around, and we still hadn’t seen much progress in getting One UI 7 on older Samsung phones.
Well, we’re halfway through the first quarter of 2025, and we can’t quite say when the Samsung Galaxy S24 series will start getting stable One UI 7. It’s nice that Samsung is taking the time to make sure things are bug-free, but this is tardy. Anyway, if you want to spend a whole lot less and still get One UI 7, Samsung’s new Galaxy F06 fits that mark.
Samsung’s New Budget Smartphone Gets One UI 7 Before Flagships
As a Galaxy S22 Ultra owner, I’ve been sitting around waiting for a taste of the latest major software update from the South Korean OEM. Regardless of whether or not you want to applaud the company for taking the time to make sure everything is production-ready, it is essentially objective at this point that Samsung is way behind every other manufacturer. It’s been over six months since Android 15’s final source code launched.
A day ago, the only Samsung device with stable One UI 7 was the Galaxy S25 series. That wasn’t surprising since the company told us well ahead of time that One UI 7 was going to launch with its new flagships. Well, there’s a single other device in the stable One UI 7 club. The average person’s first guess would be the Galaxy S24 Ultra, but that answer won’t earn you the prize money. The answer is the Samsung Galaxy F06 5G.
For full reference, that device is as budget as they come. It is exclusive to India and costs INR 9,499, which comes to about $110. That’s dirt cheap, but despite that price, it comes with One UI 7—obviously without the entire suite of Galaxy AI features. It’s nice to see Samsung not neglect its cheaper options, but it is also rather amusing to see it get the much-awaited OS before the S24 Ultra, which literally costs 10x its price.
The Galaxy F06 5G Is a Fantastic Phone for Its Price Point
At $110, a phone would have to do a lot wrong not to be worth buying. The Galaxy F06 doesn’t fall for that trap, fortunately. Besides coming with Android 15, it gets four years of major OS updates and four years of security updates. That means this inexpensive phone will see you through to Android 19. That’s impressive.
It also comes with 5G connectivity, making it Samsung’s most affordable 5G smartphone. There’s a 6.7-inch HD+ display with a peak brightness of 800 nits. MediaTek’s Dimensity 6300 is the chip of choice, and with a 5,000mAh battery and 25W charging, the power department is well-sorted. The primary camera is a 50MP unit paired with a 2MP depth sensor. On the front is a serviceable 8MP module.
The device comes in Bahama Blue and Lit Violet colorways and comes in a 4/128GB or 6/128GB configuration.
