Don't upgrade your Galaxy Z Fold 3 or Galaxy Z Flip 3 to One UI 4 yet
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Samsung has been making good time on testing and rolling out One UI 4 to its 2021 flagships, which also brings Android 12 to these phones. As they say, haste makes waste and while Samsung has improved its development process, it's not completely surprising it would also hit a few bumps along the road. Unfortunately, Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip 3 owners are now experiencing what is probably the worst case of a broken Samsung update in a long time, leaving some affected units practically unusable.
It wasn't long ago when Samsung started testing the One UI 4.0 update for its 2021 foldable phones. Some might consider it foolhardy that Samsung only spent a month with the update's public beta test. Then again, One UI 4 was cooking far longer than that, especially behind closed doors, so Samsung may have been confident in the major upgrade's stability.
That, unfortunately, might have been overconfidence, as One UI 4.0 for the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 is anything but stable, as a few unlucky first adopters discovered. Samsung's South Korean support forums are flooded with complaints (via SamMobile) about their phones after upgrading to the latest version of Samsung's software. The strange thing about all these issues is the lack of a discernible pattern or cause other than One UI 4 itself.
The problems
Some users have reported issues with Samsung's Dual Messenger feature, which lets them use two instances of certain messaging apps under different accounts (via Samsung Korea Forum). Others report being unable to use streaming services like Netflix, which can be a huge deal for certain users, especially in a very media-centric culture. There are also reports related to the camera, with some claiming that photos are being deleted from their galleries.
The most severe incidents, however, leave the phones stuck in recovery mode after installing the upgrade. This indicates the installation didn't finish correctly, which is uncommon these days for supposedly stable updates. Unfortunately, while the phone can still be used, it will require some more advanced steps to manually install the firmware, which also involves wiping the user's data in the process.
Samsung has reportedly halted the rollout of One UI 4.0 for the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3. Though the issue is bad news for those already impacted, it's fortunate the update hasn't been released outside of South Korea yet. If you come across One UI 4.0 firmware that's compatible with your model, take these reports as a warning to hold off on updating. In light of these issues, it's safe to assume the Android 12 global rollout for these models will likely be delayed.
This might also be a good opportunity to remind readers to take the necessary precautions when performing a major upgrade. Any critical files should be backed up before installing an update, just in case you're hit with the worst-case scenario.