Samsung might bring new Z Fold4 Taskbar to older Fold devices

SEOUL: One of the less discussed aspects of the new Galaxy Z Fold4 smartphone, which was unveiled a couple of days ago, is the situation with its Android version. According to GSM Arena, the phone has Google's Android 12L, a branch of the company's popular mobile OS meant specifically for foldables, tablets, and Chrome OS devices, which debuted last year.

One of the software highlights for this year is instantly noticeable in the new persistent Taskbar Samsung has placed at the bottom of the UX. Industry rumors suggest that taskbar will be coming to older Galaxy Z Fold devices as well, alongside One UI 4.1.1 "later this year".

While that's not a surprising move in itself, it does raise some interesting questions. Chief among which is whether Samsung will be updating all or at least its most recent Fold phones to the "L" Android branch as well. At this point in time, not much can be said about how much of the new Z Fold4 One UI 4.1.1 UX is related to the new Android 12L core and how much is just Samsung's custom skin effort, as per GSM Arena.

The new foldable flagship comes with One UI 4.1.1 out of the box and has plenty of new features for optimal multitasking that were developed "with partners", stated Samsung when the phone launched.