One UI 9 on Galaxy S24 Ultra: Why Samsung held back features

Samsung started rolling out One UI 9 to the Galaxy S24 series in October, bringing many features from the Galaxy S26. However, users quickly noticed that several of the best new capabilities were omitted without any clear technical explanation. Since the hardware is fully capable, the decision appears to be intentional.

• The S24 received Call Brief and Now Brief cards, but missed out on several major features.
• Testing shows the S24 hardware can easily handle these tasks as it runs heavier AI features smoothly.
• The primary reason for omitting these features seems to be artificial software exclusivity.
• Users should not expect these capabilities to arrive on older flagship devices anytime soon.

AI Notifications and Missing Smart Features

One of the most notable omissions on the Galaxy S24 is the AI-powered notification highlights feature. This tool uses artificial intelligence to summarize incoming notifications and pin the most important ones to the top. Given the volume of daily notifications, this would have been a significant upgrade for productivity.

Justifying the exclusion of this feature on the S24 is difficult because the device already summarizes entire web pages, long notes, and voice recordings using built-in AI tools. Condensing notifications requires considerably less processing power than those tasks. Users with newer S25 or S26 devices can easily enable this in the settings.

Camera Limitations and Hidden Capabilities

The Galaxy S26 and newer foldables can function as webcams when plugged into a computer via USB, but Samsung left this feature off the S24 Ultra. Considering even budget devices support webcam modes, this omission stands out. Additionally, features like 24MP shooting and advanced video stabilization were restricted.

Interestingly, the 24MP resolution option is already available inside the Expert RAW app on the S24 Ultra, proving it is not a hardware limitation. Samsung simply chose not to expose the option in the main camera app, much like the advanced frame rates in Pro video mode which the device's processor can easily handle.

Marketing Strategy and Software Exclusivity

This is not the first time a manufacturer has kept software features exclusive to newer devices despite older hardware being fully capable of running them. Google did something similar with past Pixel lineups. Both the S24 and S26 possess powerful processors capable of handling any demanding workload.

The most logical explanation for these restrictions is product differentiation and maintaining a hardware hierarchy. By keeping newer software exclusive, manufacturers encourage upgrades. S24 Ultra users should temper their expectations, as One UI 9.5 will likely double down on these exclusivity practices.