Samsung's One UI 7 heavily inspired by iOS in these UI changes

One UI 7 has been a hot topic of discussion for the past few days. This week, Samsung confirmed that the long-awaited stable update will arrive in 2025 alongside the Galaxy S25 series. During its developer conference, Samsung also showed off One UI 7 running on a Galaxy S24 Ultra for the first time.

During the first day of Samsung’s developer conference, the company confirmed the 2025 arrival of One UI 7, but didn’t show off anything about it. That made it seem like the company was still trying to keep its design and features a secret. However, the next day, the company showed off the software in motion for the first time. The first official look confirmed that it will bring some serious UI tweaks, as well as a notable iOS inspiration for certain sections.

Samsung One UI 7 splits notifications and quick settings into two panels

Android AOSP blends notifications and quick settings into a single panel. Swiping down once brings up pending notifications and some quick settings, while swiping down again brings up an expanded view of quick settings scrollers. However, inspired by iOS, some custom skins (like Xiaomi’s MIUI) have separated notifications and quick settings into two separate panels. That’s exactly what Samsung is doing now.

In One UI 7, swiping down from the left will bring up the notification shade. On the other hand, swiping down from the left will bring up the expanded quick settings panel. There’s no way to switch between panels once you’ve pulled one down. MIUI did receive a feature to switch between panels with a sideways swipe, which is convenient and adds fluidity to navigating the UI. Let’s see if Samsung does the same in the stable release or future updates. The change will likely be a bit confusing for those who have been accustomed to the single panel for years.

New iOS-like quick settings customization; blur effect present throughout the system

The images shared by SammyGuru show what the new One UI 7’s notifications and quick settings look like. They also confirmed that the customization of the quick settings look will be quite similar to iOS. Basically, you’ll be able to move the quick settings around as you like on the panel. Likewise, there’s a quick look at the new One UI 7 widgets. Another iOS-inspired change is the blur effect, which is present in practically the entire OS. You’ll now see a Gaussian blur appear at the bottom of notifications and quick settings panels, as well as on the multitasking/recents screen. Speaking of the latter, Samsung has adopted a new stacked card visual style.

The first leaks about the changes that One UI 7 would bring generated controversy among fans of the brand. The reason was the heavy iOS inspiration in certain things, such as the design of new icons. Weeks ago, tipster Ice Universe said that Samsung would get rid of the icons criticized by users. However, it seems the South Korean giant was looking beyond iOS icons for inspiration. It will be interesting to see the public’s response to the update’s new look once it’s available.