Unless you didn’t already know, Samsung is working on One UI 8.5, which could debut on the upcoming Galaxy S26 series. This will mark a notable departure from Samsung’s usual x.1 and x.1.1 updates, and, as the “.5” suggests, it’s expected to bring a whole suite of redesigned apps. We’ve been digging in to see what major changes are coming with One UI 8.5, and it turns out the Phone app will be receiving one of the most striking overhauls in this update!
One UI 8.5’s Phone app brings some notable changes
The phone dialer in One UI 8.5 is getting a major overhaul to its navigation bar. In this version, the three tabs are combined into a single floating pill, with a circle highlighting the active tab. If this looks familiar, that’s because it closely resembles iOS 26. The call icon has also been refreshed to match the app icon that was redesigned with One UI 7.
Here’s how it looks in both light and dark themes.
We also got a tip showing the Phone app’s settings page, which includes a new option called Direct Voicemail. What it does exactly isn’t clear yet. Our source asked us not to share the original screenshot, so we’ve attempted to recreate what it looked like.
That’s about all we can show from the updated Phone app for now. Sadly, we can’t reveal much more, as the app crashes after just a few seconds of being opened. Still, the changes we’ve seen so far suggest Samsung is rethinking some of its core design elements in One UI 8.5. Stay tuned… we have plenty more to share about what else could be coming.
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If you’re curious enough, Josh has some more details on how to give them a spin.
