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One UI 9.5 beta moves Phone app search to bottom tab for Galaxy S26

The search icon in Samsung’s Phone app is moving down — from top-right corner to a floating tab bar at the bottom. It’s live in One UI 9.5 beta builds, starting with the Galaxy S26 series.

By Spec Sheet

The Mobile Desk · (1 hour ago)

Reported fromoutlet, credited1
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra showing the new bottom-positioned search tab in the Phone app
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra showing the new bottom-positioned search tab in the Phone appPhoto via Android Headlines

One UI 9.5 beta shifts the Phone app search icon to a bottom floating tab — a small but deliberate reachability fix for Galaxy S26 Ultra and other large-screen Samsung phones. The change moves the search function from the top-right corner, where it’s awkward to tap one-handed on 6.9-inch displays, to a thumb-friendly position anchored at the bottom of the screen.

It’s not a redesign. It’s a relocation, and it’s live in early One UI 9.5 beta builds spotted by SamMobile and confirmed by Android Headlines. $799 in the US, Rs 84,999 in India: that’s the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s launch price, and it’s the first device confirmed to get the beta later this month or in December.

Other Galaxy models may follow, but Samsung hasn’t named them. No official rollout schedule exists beyond that timing window, and no final release date is set. What is confirmed: the full One UI 9.5 update won’t land until early 2027, likely timed with the Galaxy S27 series launch. This isn’t isolated tinkering.

Samsung has been quietly repositioning core navigation elements across apps, Messages, Contacts, Settings, to lower zones since One UI 9.0. The Phone app change fits that pattern: pragmatic, not flashy. It also arrives alongside other One UI 9.5 features already reported: a rebuilt Galaxy Enhance-X app, third-party call recording support (a long-requested gap), and upgraded Bixby widgets.

None of those are shipping yet. All remain subject to revision, as Samsung itself has warned, features often shift between beta and final. So what happens next? A public beta drops before year-end.

Developers and early adopters will test the bottom-tab search. And millions of Galaxy S26 owners will wait, not for a revolution, but for a tap that finally lands without stretching.

Topicssamsung phonessamsung galaxyone ui 9 5 betaSamsung Galaxy S26

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Written by the Hitechreports desk from the reporting credited above, with facts attributed to their original publishers. We do not test devices ourselves; anything about performance, battery life or cameras comes from the outlets that did. Prices are as reported at the time of writing. Editorial policy · Report an error

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Filed by The Mobile Desk

Phones from leak to launch to price cut: what was announced, what it costs where, and when it goes on sale. Indian launches and prices included, not appended.

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