Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra can become unusable due to One UI 9 bug

Samsung began rolling out the One UI 9 update to the Galaxy S26 Ultra ($1,500 on Amazon) in mid-September. However, the update appears to introduce a bug, as users on the Samsung Community Forum report that the Galaxy S26 Ultra can no longer be set up after updating to One UI 9. A Samsung employee confirms the issue in the forum.

According to the post, a Galaxy S26 Ultra may become impossible to set up if One UI 9 is installed and the smartphone is subsequently reset to factory settings. This is because, under certain circumstances, the device can no longer connect to Samsung's servers during setup. Samsung recommends switching from the mobile network to a Wi-Fi network, then manually logging out of your Samsung account and trying the setup again. If that does not work, users should first navigate to the Samsung Account website on another device, log in and accept the latest terms of use.

If none of these workarounds work, the only option currently available is to contact Samsung support. Samsung has not yet confirmed any details about when or with which firmware version this bug will be fixed, or whether the issue could be resolved through a server update. Until the issue is resolved, it is advisable not to reset a Galaxy S26 Ultra running One UI 9 to factory settings to avoid any risk of rendering the smartphone unusable.

Editor of the original article: Hannes Brecher - Senior Tech Writer - 22679 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2018

Since 2009 I have written for different publications with a focus on consumer electronics. I joined the Notebookcheck news team in 2018 and have combined my many years of experience with laptops and smartphones with my lifelong passion for technology to create informative content for our readers about new developments in this sphere. In addition, my design background as an art director at an ad agency has allowed me to have deeper insights into the peculiarities of this industry.