One UI 6.1 Update Brings Galaxy S24's AI Features to Older Phones

howtogeek.com:

The Samsung Galaxy S24 lineup might not have as many hardware changes as previous generations, but there are AI features that are supposed to make your experience better, all under the "Galaxy AI" umbrella. We weren't expecting Samsung to roll those features out to its older phones, at least for the time being, but that is now starting with the release of the One UI 6.1 update.

Samsung has just announced that One UI 6.1 is coming to its older smartphones, including the Galaxy S23 series, the Galaxy Tab S9 series, the Galaxy Z Flip 5, and the Galaxy Z Fold 5. The main improvement with this update is the addition of the various Galaxy AI features that were already available on the Galaxy S24 series, including Live Translate, Interpreter, Chat Assist, and Generative Edit for your photos. There's also Circle to Search, Google's newest AI-powered search feature that should be able to completely change the way you search stuff on your screen. As a reminder, Circle to Search requires Google to be the default assistant app on your phone.

This is the only notable improvement from this update, though. All of these phones were already running One UI 6, based on Android 14, which is otherwise pretty similar to the software that comes with the Galaxy S24 range out of the box. It's not clear if Samsung is planning to roll out AI features to even older/lower-end smartphones, such as the Galaxy S22 series or the Galaxy A range, but the precedent is certainly set. We'd have to wait and see—Samsung tends to do a pretty good job at keeping its devices not only with the latest version of Android, but also with the latest software features whenever possible.

The update is now rolling out to smartphones, so if you happen to own one of the models we've listed above, make sure to download it to your device now. It can take a few weeks before it lands for everyone, though. There might also be a slight delay for some models purchased through carriers, as networks like AT&T and Verizon