Samsung could bring one of Apple's most polarizing notification features to One UI 8.5

Apple debuted AI-based notification summaries on iPhones last year, and it quickly gained controversy thanks to some seriously inaccurate results. We know that Google is working on notification summaries for Android, and it looks like this functionality is coming to Samsung phones.

SamMobile discovered a notification summary feature in the latest One UI 8.5 firmware, although it’s not working right now. The outlet says you’ll see a pop-up explaining the feature after pulling down the notification shade for the first time. Check out the screenshots below.

The second screenshot reveals how notification summaries will work, and it appears that this is derived from Google’s own notification summary feature. Much like Google’s feature, Samsung’s summaries only apply to “long messages and group conversations.” The description also specifically notes that your messages are never sent to Google, while the graphic is identical to one we uncovered for Google’s notification summary feature. It all lends credence to the idea that this is a Google feature rather than one specifically built by Samsung. The screenshot also has a Manage apps field, allowing you to exclude specific apps from receiving notification summaries. That’s in line with Google’s feature, too.

In any event, SamMobile claims that this feature relies on Google’s cloud, but the second screenshot specifically mentions that it uses “AI on your device.” So, I imagine that this feature would use Gemini Nano or another local AI model. Local processing would be particularly important for private conversations, after all. Either way, I really hope this notification summary feature isn’t as inaccurate as Apple’s take.

These aren’t the only notable One UI 8.5 features in the pipeline. Samsung’s pending software update could also offer some pro video options and 3D recording, a native double back tap gesture, and a way to fight photosensitive epilepsy. So it looks like this could be a huge upgrade for Samsung phones.