Samsung is expanding its advanced camera software to older flagships, rolling out the Horizontal Lock feature to the Galaxy S25 lineup through the early September 2026 release of the One UI 9 Beta 1 update.
One UI 9 Beta 1 Brings S26 Flagship Tech to S25 Devices
Owners of the Samsung Galaxy S25 series are gaining a high-end capability previously restricted to the newer Galaxy S26 generation. The new software build—rooted in Android 17—brings the feature straight to beta testers across India, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. While early test builds had previously appeared during internal software runs specifically for the Galaxy S25+, this public beta pushes the capability out to a broader testing base.
Gyroscope Data and Aggressive Cropping Power Super Steady
Functioning as an extension of the existing Super Steady video mode, Horizontal Lock goes far beyond standard optical stabilization. The algorithm pulls live telemetry data from the phone’s hardware gyroscope and combines it with heavy digital image cropping. When the physical chassis tilts or spins across a full 360-degree axis, the camera sensor compensates on the fly, locking the final recorded frame to a true horizontal plane.
Pushing Mobile Sensors to the Limit on Power Drills and Bicycles
Early adopters have wasted no time pushing the stabilization limits of the mobile sensor architecture. A user named CID posted a demonstration on the social platform X showing a beta-running Galaxy S25 mounted directly to a spinning power drill. Despite the violent rotation, the software kept the video frame completely vertical. Other community tests have strapped the smartphone to moving bicycles and household washing machines, with the stabilization algorithm successfully preserving a level horizon in every extreme scenario.
Bridging the Feature Gap Between Generations
Samsung’s official changelog for the initial beta build leaves out a detailed accounting of every minor adjustment. Even so, the arrival of Horizontal Lock demonstrates that trickle-down software engineering from the Galaxy S26 remains a core strategy for the company’s mobile division. Testers running the early beta package can find and enable the setting directly inside the native camera application’s stabilization menus, successfully bridging the feature-set gap between hardware generations.
