A new One UI 8.5 feature demonstrates Samsung's inspiration from iOS 26 design.
Samsung’s upcoming Android update will share more than one visual idea with Apple’s Liquid Glass.
The most significant changes involve the icons of Samsung's built-in apps, which maintain vibrant colors but now have a 3D design. This effect is also visible on third-party app icons, like those of YouTube and the Google Play Store. All icons include drop shadows, giving them a floating appearance.
This new aesthetic aligns with other potential changes in One UI 8.5. Previous leaks have shown floating elements, drop shadows, and overflow gradients.
The style resembles both current Apple designs and past Samsung interfaces.
The changes are reminiscent of Apple’s Liquid Glass design, but Samsung has used 3D elements before. Older versions of TouchWiz included drop shadows under the icons, making the Galaxy S26 series a potential throwback to the Galaxy S6.
One potential issue shared by iOS 26 and One UI 8.5 is software energy efficiency. Initial reports from leaked One UI 8.5 builds suggest that rendering the 3D elements increases the hardware load, impacting battery life. Given the early stage of One UI 8.5 development, this may not be an issue in the final version.
Is a 3D design trend emerging?
Software redesigns can make devices feel new, but the return to 3D is not universally appealing. Liquid Glass is visually acceptable, but not necessarily an improvement, and One UI 8.5 evokes a similar feeling. The Material 3 Expressive design in Android 16 suggests Google might be on a different path.
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