Hi everyone,
OpenGL in one ui 7 stable
After installing the One UI 7 stable update (build DYD9) on my Galaxy S23, I noticed something odd—the system is still running animations using OpenGL, even though the One UI 7 Beta 1 initially used Vulkan for rendering.
Back during Beta 1, the smoothness of animations and battery life on the S23 were noticeably better. Many users, including myself, reported how fast, fluid, and power-efficient the phone felt. However, starting with Beta 2, Vulkan was quietly removed and replaced with OpenGL again—with no explanation.
Now, after the stable release, the S23 is still stuck on OpenGL, while newer models like the Galaxy S24 and S25 series are benefiting from Vulkan-based rendering. This feels unfair considering the S23 has the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chipset and can clearly handle Vulkan without issues.
Even worse, users who force Vulkan manually through ADB or other means are reporting major gains in animation fluidity and battery performance. It’s disappointing that Samsung disabled this by default without giving users a choice.
Why was Vulkan removed for the S23 series while it was left enabled on newer phones? If it worked well in Beta 1 and the hardware supports it, this seems like an unnecessary downgrade for S23 users.
Samsung, please don’t treat your flagship users like this—we paid a premium too. I hope this post reaches enough users so that it gets escalated properly.
Let me know if you’re also noticing this issue or have forced Vulkan and seen the benefits.
