Rumor suggests Samsung may be planning a subtle icon refresh in One UI 8.5

Samsung's One UI 8 recently started rolling out to more users since its late September 2025 debut, bringing features like a revamped split-screen mode, Gemini Live integration, a Portrait Studio for pets, live Call Captions, and a reworked Samsung DeX. But that doesn't stop rumors on what could be the next version of the Android skin, One UI 8.5, from flowing in.

The most recent rumor comes from leaker Ice Universe on Weibo, who shared images showing a subtle shift in the operating system's icon design. Samsung looks to be ditching the completely flat aesthetic of current One UI icons for some sort of "3D" look to them. The icons now feature a faint drop shadow and a gradient that creates a sense of depth. If you look hard at the image below, you'd notice the bottom lip of the icons looks elevated from the background, so it is quite subtle.

Another thing to note is that this new design seems to be applied consistently to third-party apps like Google Messages, YouTube, and the Play Store. Outlets like Android Authority have pointed out that this could be reminiscent of the "Touchwiz Era" of Samsung's software design from years ago.

Early TouchWiz, from the original Galaxy S to the S2, had icons with a very three-dimensional look with gradients and drop shadows to create a sense of depth. That design philosophy, though, looked inconsistent because every icon had its own unique shape. When the Galaxy Note 5 launched with its "Noble UX", stock icons were placed in a "squircle"-like container for some uniformity.

In the final iterations of TouchWiz on the Galaxy S5 to S7, the company toned down the heavy gradients. When Samsung launched One UI, it kept the squircle as a container but made the icons inside almost completely flat.

Apart from a potential "3D" icon, another rumor we have heard about One UI 8.5 is the end to the software's native integration with Microsoft. An APK teardown of a beta Gallery app revealed prompts indicating that Samsung is ending its OneDrive backup partnership.

The company will instead push users to back up their photos and videos to its own Samsung Cloud service, which it had previously scaled back in favor of the Microsoft deal.