Owners of the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy Z Fold 7 are waking up to an uncomfortable reality: Samsung has effectively labeled them “legacy” when it comes to one of its newest AI features, which debuted in the Galaxy S26 series.

At the center of the controversy is “Call Screening,” an AI-driven convenience feature debuting with the Galaxy S26 lineup via One UI 8.5. It answers calls on your behalf, identifies the caller, interprets intent, and delivers a real-time text summary.

Despite being software-based and heavily reliant on on-device processing, Call Screening is being locked exclusively to the S26 series. That includes excluding devices like the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which has more than enough NPU headroom to run this feature.

Samsung has now confirmed this direction publicly. On its own community platform, Members, the company responded to user requests by stating that Call Screening support will begin with the Galaxy S26 series.

Source – Samsung Community (Korea)

That response has not gone down well; the backlash has been sharp and frankly, predictable. Words like “betrayal” and “bait-and-switch” are being thrown around by users who feel burned.

These are premium buyers, many of whom upgraded recently under the assumption that Samsung’s much-advertised seven-year update promise actually meant something beyond version numbers.

If meaningful features are selectively withheld, it starts to look like a hollow marketing layer. Updating Android versions while stripping out key experiences is not long-term support; it is controlled stagnation.

Short term, this might help push S26 sales. Long term, it risks something far more valuable, user loyalty.

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