Rumour: an internal One UI 9 build running on a Galaxy S25 Ultra appears to include Virtual Reflector, the portrait-lighting tool Samsung introduced on the Galaxy S26 Ultra. Screenshots posted on X by leaker Fahad Ali Javed show the tool on a build ending in ZZHC, and SamMobile reports Samsung is testing it inside the Expert RAW camera app. Samsung has confirmed none of this.
What Galaxy S25 Ultra owners are in line for in One UI 9
Virtual Reflector is the third S26 Ultra camera feature spotted running on last year’s flagship in internal One UI 9 builds. Taken together, this is what has surfaced so far:
- Virtual Reflector — a software stand-in for the bounce reflector a portrait photographer would hold off-camera, lifting shadow on a backlit face without pushing the background into overexposure. Reported controls cover the reflector’s colour, how strong the bounce is, and which direction the light comes from.
- Horizontal Lock — previously seen in internal builds on the S25 Ultra.
- My FanCam — likewise seen in internal builds, an AI video editing tool.
The pattern is more interesting than any single feature. Three separate S26 Ultra camera tools turning up on the S25 Ultra within the same build cycle reads as a deliberate decision rather than an accident of shared code — though until Samsung says so, that is a reading and not a fact.
Why this is not yet an update you can wait for
Two things are worth being blunt about. First, Samsung has not announced a One UI 9 beta programme for the Galaxy S25 series at all, so there is no timeline here — not a beta date, not a stable date. Second, features found in internal builds get cut. Android Authority, which reported the leak, makes the point plainly: “features found in development builds can still be changed or removed,” and there is a real chance some of these camera additions stay exclusive to the newer Ultra.
There is also a quieter caveat in how the feature is being tested. Expert RAW is a separate Samsung app rather than part of the stock camera, so even a shipped Virtual Reflector may not be a button in the viewfinder you already use. If you are weighing an S25 Ultra purchase or holding off on an upgrade, do it on the hardware and on Samsung’s published update commitment, not on a screenshot of an unreleased build.
For the wider picture of which Samsung phones and tablets are down for the update, see our One UI 9 eligibility list.
Source: leaker Fahad Ali Javed on X, via Android Authority
