Lanh Nguyen / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Samsung started the One UI 8 beta for the Galaxy S23 yesterday.
- Despite receiving the latest update, the Galaxy S23 is not getting a notable Galaxy AI feature, which is Now Brief.
- Samsung first introduced Now Brief with One UI 7 on the Galaxy S25, though it subsequently rolled out to other devices with One UI 8 (stable and beta).
After first announcing One UI 8 with the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 back in July, Samsung is expected to bring it to other flagships starting this month. In preparation for the rollout of the stable version, beginning with the Galaxy S25 later in September, Samsung has also released One UI 8 beta updates to a range of Galaxy S and A series phones.
In the first two days of September, Samsung has already initiated the One UI 8 beta program for most eligible devices, starting with the Galaxy S23 and other A-series phones yesterday and extending it to the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Flip 5 today. However, despite similar builds, some not-so-old Galaxy flagships are missing out on key features.
The Galaxy S23 series, as SamMobile notes, lacks one of the most compelling One UI features: Now Brief. If you’re unfamiliar, Now Brief is a feature that draws cues from multiple apps, providing an overview of what different parts of your day could look like in terms of engagements, obligations, or interests. It hasn’t lived up to its hype, but its potential cannot be overruled, especially as Samsung plans to arm it with additional features.
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Now Brief was first launched as part of One UI 7 earlier this year, but it was exclusive to the Galaxy S25. Subsequently, devices have started to receive it with One UI 8, and Galaxy S23 was also expected to fall in line.
Samsung’s move isn’t very reassuring, as the Galaxy S23 was the first series to tote Samsung’s extensive catalog of AI features, including calling, writing, and drawing tools. The phone is also promised to be supported through the next year, and robbing a two-year-old flagship of a significant feature isn’t a great strategy.
Notably, the Galaxy S24 did not get Now Brief with One UI 7, but Samsung added it with the latest One UI 8 beta, which was rolled out last week. This could have raised hopes for the owners of the Galaxy S23 series as well, which are now being shattered.
Thankfully, this isn’t the final One UI 8 update for the Galaxy S23, and there is still a chance of the feature being added later. If you want to try out Now Brief on older devices, you also can sideload it on any device running One UI 7. However, we’re unsure if that is still a possibility with One UI 8 beta.
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Joe Maring / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Samsung now offers custom reminder cards in Now Brief via the Routines Plus app.
- This allows you to create reminders in Now Brief that appear at your desired time, complete with a link to open a specific app.
- The update has rolled out to the Galaxy Store and applies to One UI 7 phones too.
Update: August 1, 2025 (3:05 AM ET): Samsung announced an updated Routines Plus app last week, allowing you to create a routine that reminds you via Now Brief. Fortunately, this update is now available via the Galaxy Store, as you can see in our screenshot below.
Zac Kew-Denniss / Android Authority
You don’t need a One UI 8 device to take advantage of this feature, either. Samsung’s update log confirms that these custom reminder cards are also available on Galaxy devices running its One UI 7 software.
Original article: July 23, 2025 (3:48 AM ET): Samsung’s Now Brief feature debuted on the Galaxy S25 series, giving you a summary of relevant info several times a day. We had mixed impressions after first using it, but Samsung continues to improve the feature. The Galaxy maker isn’t stopping here, as it’s just introduced another handy feature to Now Brief.
Samsung announced on its Korean-language community forum (via SammyGuru) that the Routines Plus Good Lock module has received a One UI 8 update. This update lets you create a routine that reminds you via Now Brief. Check out the machine-translated screenshots below.
The screenshots reveal that you can choose a reminder time and description, whether it repeats (and how often it repeats), link the Now Brief card to a specific app, and specify an image. The ability to link the info card to an app should be pretty useful, as it theoretically means you can quickly accomplish the task without looking for the app first. In any event, this could be handy for small tasks you sometimes forget to do, such as buying something, calling someone, making a payment, and more.
Samsung also says devices without Now Brief will benefit from this feature as the reminder will pop up via your notifications instead. So you don’t need a recent flagship phone to take advantage of this functionality. For what it’s worth, we aren’t seeing this feature on our Galaxy Z Fold 7 running One UI 8.
It’s not the first time we’ve heard about this feature, either. We first heard about custom Now Brief cards in June, and that leaked feature seems identical to this newly announced capability.
We’re just glad Samsung is updating Now Brief with more features. This latest feature joins new info cards like YouTube recommendations, parking spot reminders, battery alerts for wearables, and smart home updates. Samsung has also brought audio playback functionality, so you can have your Now Brief cards read to you.
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Samsung Electronics said Tuesday it expected its second quarter operating profits to fall by more than half, blaming U.S. export controls on advanced AI chips to China.
The firm is the flagship subsidiary of South Korean giant Samsung Group, by far the largest of the family-controlled conglomerates that dominate business in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
The tech giant said in a regulatory filing that its April-June operating profits were expected to drop to 4.6 trillion won ($3.3 billion)—down 56% from a year earlier and 31% from the previous quarter.
The figure was 23.4% lower than the average estimate, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, which cited its own financial data firm.
Sales were estimated at 74 trillion won, down 0.1% from a year earlier and 6.5% from the previous quarter.
The company did not disclose its net income or the detailed earnings of its business divisions.
In a separate release, the company explained why the results “fell short of market expectations”.
The company’s key semiconductors division “recorded a quarter-on-quarter decline in profit due to inventory value adjustments and the impact of U.S. restrictions on advanced AI chips for China”, it said.
Washington has expanded efforts to prevent Beijing getting state-of-the-art chips over concerns that they could be used to advance the country’s military systems and other tech capabilities.
The restrictions mean the company’s high-tech factories were running well below capacity.
However, Samsung projected that in the second half of the year it would trim operating losses “as utilization improves due to a gradual recovery in demand”.
Shares in Samsung were down around 0.8% in Seoul on Tuesday.
‘Weak foundry’
The sharp profit and revenue drop is attributed “primarily to the weak foundry business, while the performance of the memory business stayed relatively stable”, Tom Hsu, an analyst at TrendForce told AFP.
The outlook for the next quarter is more optimistic, with “memory chip prices and shipments to keep rising, thanks to strong demand”, especially from data centers, added Hsu, including for AI.
Performance from the company’s HBM chips—used for advanced AI computing—”likely fell short of expectations”, said Chae Min-sook, an analyst at Korea Investment and Securities.
In addition, a price drop for its NAND—used for data storage—”likely widened losses slightly”, Chae added.
“The sharp decline in the won-dollar exchange rate since June will likely weigh on both sales and operating profit (for the second quarter),” she added.
Samsung is among the smartphone makers under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has threatened South Korea with 25% tariffs in a letter to Seoul on Monday.
Trump has repeatedly demanded that global companies—including Samsung and rival Apple—relocate production to the United States, which many experts warn is unrealistic, citing complex Asia-based supply chains.
South Korea has already been hit by levies on steel and car exports, and said Tuesday it was maintaining “close communication” with the Trump administration as it sought to head off additional measures.
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