Summary
- Samsung is improving its Android update speed, releasing stable Android 14 builds for its 2023 flagships in October and expanding availability to the public.
- Galaxy S22 owners in Europe and the UK have reported receiving the stable Android 14 update, and Verizon and AT&T have also released the update in the US.
- One UI 6 brings new features such as a redesigned quick settings panel, updated camera app options, new clock styles, and improved system storage counts. More Samsung devices are set to receive the update soon.
Samsung has increased its Android update speed over the past few years. This year, it failed in the One UI 6 beta program for the Galaxy S23 with some false starts in the beginning. After nine beta builds, the company released the stable Android 14 build for its 2023 flagship in late October. Then, in mid-November, Samsung closed down the One UI 6 beta program for the Galaxy S22 and made the final firmware available to beta testers in a limited rollout. The company has now extended the availability of the Galaxy S22 Android 14 update to the public.
Reports are coming in from Galaxy S22 owners across Europe and the UK about the stable Android 14 update arriving on their phones. Verizon and AT&T appear to have launched the final One UI 6 build for S22 owners on their networks in the US (via Reddit ). The DWK4 firmware weighs in at over 3.1GB and includes the November 2023 security patch.
While Samsung released nine One UI 6 beta builds for the Galaxy S23, the S22 received four beta firmwares since the launch of the program in mid-September before receiving the stable update. The first One UI 6 beta for the Galaxy S22 arrived a week after the Galaxy A54 and A34, but its stable update arrives before the mid-rangers.
go towards Settings > Software Update > Download and Install To get the final Android 14 build on your Galaxy S22. It may take some time for Samsung to release the update in other parts of the world. The wait for carrier-locked units may be longer due to additional testing and certification.
One UI 6 packs major new features, like a redesigned quick settings panel, new emoji, updated iconography for the camera app with additional options, a camera widget, and a new system font. This update also introduces several new clock styles and placement options for lock screen customization. Apart from all this, you get all the privacy and security features introduced by Google in Android 14.
You may notice that your Galaxy S22 is showing a lot of free space after updating to Android 14. This is because One UI 6 changes the way system storage is calculated. The company previously put all storage space unused by apps and media into the “System” partition, making it appear as if its software was taking up too much space. But this was not true.
Samsung’s One UI 6 release timeline for Europe indicates that several more devices in its roster will get the stable Android 14 update in the coming days, including the Galaxy Z Fold 5, Flip 5, Fold 4, and S21 series. There may be a slight delay due to final testing and other issues, but it gives a good indication of when your Galaxy phone will get the latest version of Android.