Released around three and a half months ago in its stable form for Google’s Pixel devices, Android 11 has already started expanding to not three and not five but a grand total of six high-end Samsung smartphones in select global markets and on major US carriers.
The Galaxy Z Flip 5G thus becomes Samsung’s very first foldable device to officially run the newest version of the world’s most popular mobile OS, beating the extravagant Z Fold 2 5G to the punch, as well as the 4G LTE-only Z Flip and Galaxy Fold. For the time being, the over-the-air Android 11 rollout is underway in Switzerland, according to SamMobile, but we fully expect Samsung to spread the love across the old continent in a matter of weeks (maybe even days).
If history is any indication, the largest wireless service providers stateside could also be hard at work on optimizing all the performance improvements and UI tweaks developed by Google and Samsung for their respective Galaxy Z Flip 5G variants.
Even though time is certainly tight, we wouldn’t be shocked to see at least one big US carrier kick off its own Android 11-based One UI 3.0 delivery by New Year’s Eve. Given the… unconventional design of the Z Flip 5G, Samsung could well be working on some special OS enhancements to take advantage of the foldable experience, but for the most part, you should expect to receive pretty much the same stuff that Galaxy S20 and Note 20-series owners recently started getting.
We’re talking everything from lock screen widget refinements to Quick Panel customization improvements, Digital Wellbeing enhancements, overhauled notifications, and many, many subtle UI revisions that come together to radically upgrade the user experience. Also, the latest (and greatest) security patches.
