Samsung users want THIS Android 14 feature in One UI 6 update

Samsung has been taking One UI 6 through its paces over the past few weeks, with the most recent update inching it to closer to the final release with beta 6. But as we edge closer to the stable release, several Samsung Galaxy S23 owners are furious after finding out that the update to One UI 6 may not tag along support for Ultra HDR, a feature that is part of Android 14 AOSP.

Most smartphones have become our photography partners, but the quality of photos highly relies on the features inside these phones, both hardware and software. While the likes of Samsung go hard on hardware, being a software-first company, Google often treads the software path. To this end, Android 14 now ships with Ultra HDR image support for crisp, clear and bright content.

Soon after the official announcement at the Google I/O 2023, Samsung fans were curious to know if One UI 6 update will also include support for Ultra HDR on the Galaxy S23 and other models. This concern stemmed from the fact that viewing HDR content requires an HDR-capable display or device for that matter. At the time, a Samsung community moderator chimed in with a damaging revelation, confirming their worst fears that not everyone will be eligible for Ultra HDR once the stable One UI 6 update goes live.

The Galaxy S23 is Samsung’s premium offering, and it ships with an HDR10+ display panel, so it shouldn’t have any issues with supporting Ultra HDR format. But looking at what the mod said, it’s unlikely that Ultra HDR will be a global feature in One UI 6.

Google says that Android 14’s HDR image support uses a backward-compatible format to view images in Ultra HDR, presumably even on non-HDR panels, so Samsung’s hardware limitation excuse might not hold water.

In a video, Google notes that Ultra HDR should work in Google Chrome and Google Photos, allowing users to share Ultra HDR photos to other devices. Furthermore, the APIs should enable app developers, especially social media, to adopt the new format so that you don’t get a broken experience with Ultra HDR content when shared from your capable phone to these platforms.

Even more interesting is that in the video, Google also points out that with the backward-compatibility, it shouldn’t be a problem processing HDR content on SDR panels. This implies that Ultra HDR image support should be available even on older phones that don’t necessarily come with HDR-capable panels. With this knowledge, it’s no surprise that some Galaxy S23 owners are now urging Samsung to include support for Ultra HDR in the final One UI 6 update.

It’s worth noting that the previous statement by a forum moderator isn’t the final word from Samsung. But we should be able to confirm this once we either hear from the horse’s mouth or with actual real world tests after the stable One UI 6 version rolls out.

Featured image: Samsung

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