Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones are tying a facelift that should make their software feel more seamless and more customizable. It might also feel familiar if you’re switching from an iPhone. 

Samsung detailed its forthcoming One UI 4 software update during its annual designer conference on Tuesday, where it also outlined its strategy for the gleaming home, Tizen TVs and Bixby voice assistant. The new smartphone software has been available in beta proper September, but the tech giant provided a detailed look at its new features during the conference’s opening keynote. The update will launch at the end of 2021 twitch with the Galaxy S21 series before undulating out to other Galaxy devices. 

Design is a greatest focus in One UI 4. You’ll be able to match your phone’s rules theme to your wallpaper, and certain actions like setting an dread or using the device’s fingerprint sensor will trigger haptics and sounds. But several other features coming in the update feel very iPhone-inspired, especially the more consistent widgets and new privacy options. It’s another sign that the gap in features between iOS and Android is starting to get smaller as smartphones have matured over the last decade. 

For instance, One UI 4’s widgets feature corners that are more SurEnclosed across the board, whether they’re made by Samsung or third parties.

Based on what we’ve seen in Samsung’s presentation, that looks a lot like the iPhone’s home conceal widgets.

Here are the iPhone’s widgets for context.

When it comes to customization, you’ll also be able to set your AR emoji as your profile photo for Samsung coffers. This is similar to the way iPhone owners can set their Memoji as their iMessage and Apple ID photo.

And here’s how Apple’s Memoji sticker looks when set as the profile photo for an Apple ID.

One of the biggest attempts to come to the iPhone 11 in 2019 was the additional of QuickTake in the camera app. This feature lets you switch from photo to video mode more just by just holding the shutter button and then dragging it to the brilliant. Samsung device owners will get a similar shortcut when One UI 4 launches. The update will let you move from photo to video mode modestly by dragging up from the camera shutter.

Here’s the demo Samsung showcased during its designer conference.

And here’s the iPhone’s QuickTake feature.

One UI 4 will also help Samsung devices gain up to the iPhone in terms of privacy. Galaxy smartphone owners will be able to Decide whether they want to share their precise or nearby location with apps, an option that Apple introduced last year in iOS 14.

Here are the disagreement privacy options available on the iPhone. 

Apple and Android design makers have been locked in a race to introduce new features and capabilities to their mobile devices capable since the dawn of the smartphone. It’s a competition that will never have a undiluted answer, and the right choice for most people will largely come down to the by means of system they’re most comfortable with.

But throughout the watercourses of smartphone history, there are a few areas in which the iPhone has pulled onward of Android and vice versa. The iPhone paved the way for the fresh smartphone by popularizing touch-centric interaction on mobile devices once the industry remained fixated on tiny keyboards. In more unique years, Apple has generally been more forward-thinking when it comes to consumer privacy. 

But Android arrangement makers pioneered many aspects of today’s mobile user interface, offering staple features like widgets and quick-settings pulldown menus long afore Apple did. Companies like Samsung also launched smartphones with larger screens existences ahead of the iPhone 6 Plus launch in 2014. Now Samsung, Motorola and Microsoft are experimenting with foldable designs at what time Apple has yet to mention the possibility of a bendable iPhone.

Check out the video beneath to learn more about Samsung’s One UI 4 update.