Samsung has officially rolled out its One UI 8.5 update globally for the Galaxy S25 lineup, delivering a refreshed interface, smoother animations, and smarter AI tools. However, despite borrowing heavily from the newer S26 series, the 2025 flagship is noticeably missing several key features.

Hands-on testing with the stable release on the S25 Ultra reveals the absence of the new 24MP photo mode found on the S26 Ultra. Even with the Camera Assistant app installed, the option is nowhere to be found—despite both devices running the exact same app version. Furthermore, settings for autofocus speed and sensitivity, along with the video softening feature, have been stripped away. Notably, 8K video recording via HDMI or Smart View is also currently unavailable on the S25 series.

The feature gap extends to Galaxy AI. The 2025 Ultra model misses out on two major additions: Now Nudge, which offers smart action suggestions based on on-screen content, and Notification Highlights, a tool for quickly summarizing important alerts. The highly requested Horizontal Lock—designed to keep video recording ultra-stable regardless of camera shake—is another unfortunate omission on the older models.

In the past, Samsung has chalked up feature disparities between generations to chipset optimization or the strict demands of on-device AI processing. Given the formidable hardware under the hood of the Galaxy S25, however, these omissions in the One UI 8.5 update are a tough pill for the community to swallow. It remains to be seen whether Samsung will patch these features in via future updates or keep them exclusive to its latest flagships. Users can manually check for the update by navigating to Settings > Software Update.