(Image credit: Future)

The progress of AI so far has mostly concentrated on the generative side – making goofy pictures or summarising information. But it looks like Samsung could be preparing to do something a little more useful with the tech.

It looks like One UI 8.5 could include a range of AI features that focus on improving device performance, rather than giving you some spurious new feature. And according to details from SammyGuru, that's going to include the management of your wireless connections.

Connection management is something of a hot potato. It's possible to find yourself stuck on a Wi-Fi connection that doesn't give you a data connection so your phone stops working. Equally, as you leave a Wi-Fi area, sometimes your phone can hang on to that connection for far longer than it should, delaying the switch to 5G and giving you a laggy experience.

Many devices already use some sort of intelligence to try and make this process smoother, but it looks like Samsung is going to push this a little further. While the source details show a range of connection functions, one that's really interesting is highlighted by 9to5Google, that points to something called "switching to mobile data with AI".

This will allow the device to intelligently move off a Wi-Fi connection, using learned data from user interaction and previous behaviour. That should mean that if you routinely turn off Wi-Fi when you leave home to avoid that laggy handover, the AI should learn from this action and do it for you.

What else will be added to Samsung phones?

That's not the only addition that's coming to One UI 8.5. There's also going to be a change to how folders appear, while there's a feature called "Family Device Sharing". This is designed to help you share files between family members, although from the leaks so far, it's not exactly clear how it's going to work.

It's still early days for Samsung One UI 8.5, with recent Samsung devices launching on One UI 8 (based on Android 16) and the next iteration not expected until new devices are launched. That's expected to be in January with the launch of the Galaxy S26 family.

We're expecting to see a lot more leaks before the launch of that new phone – but for those with existing Samsung phones, it's unlikely that you'll get One UI 8.5 until well into 2026.