Samsung Distributes S26 Exclusives: Four AI Features Coming to S24 via One UI 8.5
# What Was Supposed to Stay on Galaxy S26 Is Coming to S24 — Samsung Quietly Changed Its Artificial Limitations Strategy After Community Pressure. But Not All Features Are Equal, and Details Matter.
By Tetiana Suchkova-Ladik
April 16, 2026 · 2 min read
Samsung's internal firmware for the Galaxy S24 Ultra (build S928BXXU5DZD9) revealed four AI features that Samsung presented as exclusive to the Galaxy S26: Advanced Audio Eraser, Call Screening, Creative Studio, and an updated Photo Assist. SamMobile first reported this: the leak concerns an internal test build of One UI 8.5, and the features are currently not present in the public beta for the S24.
What's coming — and why it matters for everyday use
Advanced Audio Eraser allows you to remove background noise while watching videos on YouTube, Instagram, or Netflix — without switching to an editor, directly from the Quick Panel. This is fundamentally different logic from the old Audio Eraser, which only worked in the gallery after recording.
Call Screening answers calls on your behalf: AI asks the caller who they are and why they're calling, records the conversation, and immediately provides a transcript. The feature will be added as a separate item in the Phone app settings.
Creative Studio is a renamed Drawing Assist with a redesigned interface, new styles, and expanded AI tools for image generation. Photo Assist, in turn, now allows you to generate entire scenes based on a photo and text prompt.
Why Samsung backed away from exclusivity
When Samsung announced the Galaxy S26, the strategy was clear: some AI features were meant to drive purchases of the new flagship, remaining unavailable for previous devices. But the community reacted sharply — on official forums, Reddit, and social media, thousands of users demanded changes. Samsung backed down.
"This decision sets an important precedent: Samsung essentially acknowledges that AI features at the software level should not be artificially limited to a single device generation when the hardware allows it."
— analysis from pasqualepillitteri.it on One UI 8.5 rollout
What remains unclear
The stable release of One UI 8.5 for the S24 is expected within the coming weeks after the beta program for the S25 concludes. At the same time, there's an important caveat: Audio Eraser and some other heavy processing features are not available for the S23 and older devices — likely due to NPU limitations. The S24 with the Exynos 2400 or Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip formally qualifies, but Samsung has not officially confirmed which features will be included in the stable build.
If Samsung does include all four features in the stable release for the entire S24 lineup — not just Ultra — it will be a test of whether the company's new approach to AI exclusivity has truly changed, or merely adapted to pressure within a single premium segment.
