Older Samsung phones will also get a free Galaxy AI upgrade soon

Rik Henderson
·2 min read
Samsung Galaxy 24 AI features.
Samsung Galaxy 24 AI features.

Quick Summary

A Samsung employee has posted on the company's own forums that the Galaxy S21 series will get Galaxy AI features soon.

Owners of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 or Z Flip 3 can also expect to gain new AI capabilities – possibly as soon as May.

Samsung has excitingly confirmed plans to bring Galaxy AI features to handsets even older than originally thought.

Launched with the Samsung Galaxy S24 series, the Galaxy AI suite of tools were made available on S23 phones from the end of last month, and we've previously reported that there were tentative plans to launch them on S22 devices in the coming months.

Well, now it seems the company will release Galaxy AI on phones released in 2022, too. That will include the Samsung Galaxy S21, S21+, S21 Ultra, plus the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 (but not the S21 FE, however).

What's more, the update could arrive as soon as May, which will make the best Samsung phones of the past even better. It could save you a bundle if you were considering an upgrade soon, as your existing phone should last you a fair while yet.

That being said, the Galaxy AI experience on older phones will have to be cut back.

The confirmation was posted by a Samsung employee on an official forum in Korea. It reveals that One UI 6.1 is coming to the 2022 handsets, but with just Google's Circle to Search and "Magic Rewrite" as the Galaxy AI features that will be compatible.

The latter is likely a messy translation of the original Korean, according to 9to5Google, which suggests that it's the Generative Edit feature.

Unfortunately, other AI features are unlikely to be available on those phones, presumably because they lack the necessary on-board processing power. The features mentioned use cloud-based AI to work.

Still, it's great that some of the best and most interesting capabilities of Samsung's latest devices are going to be available on older hardware. It's something the entire industry also needs to address, as the phone upgrade cycle expands as sustainability and affordability become ever more important.