After Samsung’s surprise announcement that they are committing to delivering 3 generations of Android OS updates for their flagship smartphones, the company has now surprised us again with another update-related announcement.
Samsung is opening up a One UI 3.0 beta program for developers with the Galaxy S20, S20+, or S20 Ultra. One UI 3.0 is the name for Samsung’s next major Android-based software and it’ll be based on Google’s Android 11 release.
The current “pre-beta” phase of this program is essentially Samsung’s term for a closed beta. To be accepted, you must apply and ask for partnership permissions. Samsung will accept applications on a case-by-case basis depending on need and eligibility.
The pre-beta is currently only available for U.S. and Korean Galaxy S20 devices at the moment. In the U.S., only unlocked and T-Mobile/Sprint devices will be supported while in Korea, all Galaxy S20 SKUs will be supported.
In the upcoming full public beta period, Samsung will open up support to participants in China, Germany, India, Poland, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Samsung didn’t announce when the public beta would start, but it is at least nice to know that there will be a public beta.
It’s exciting to see Samsung getting an early lead on software updates. For years, the lack of timely OS upgrades was one of the major downsides of getting a Samsung phone, but in the past few months, it seems that Samsung has really started to up its game. I hope they keep this up and continue to improve their software support in the future.
| Country | Service Provider | Device Model |
| Korea, Republic of | KT / LGU+ / SKT / Unlocked | Galaxy S20 (SM-G981N), S20+ (SM-G986N), S20 Ultra (SM-G988N) |
| United States | Sprint / T-Mobile | Galaxy S20 (SM-G981U), S20+ (SM-G986U), S20 Ultra (SM-G988U) |
| Unlocked | Galaxy S20 (SM-G981U1), S20+ (SM-G986U1), S20 Ultra (SM-G988U1) |
