Samsung is introducing its latest flagship phones and tablets today… but the company is also making a new promise: some Galaxy devices will now receive as many as four major Android and Samsung One UI updates and up to five years of security updates.

That puts Samsung at the head of the pack when it comes to Android phone makers. Google’s Pixel 6 phones, for example, will get five years of security updates but Google (the company that makes Android) is only promising three major OS updates).

That said, Samsung’s announcement is full of caveats:

  • It’s available on select Samsung Galaxy S, Z, and A series phones and tablets, which means that not all members of those families will be supported that long.
  • Samsung carefully says “up to four generations of One UI and Android OS upgrades” and “up to five years of security updates,” suggesting that there’s a bit of wiggle room.

The company also doesn’t say how frequently it will roll out security updates. While Google makes security patches available on a monthly basis, phone makers sometimes choose to roll them out to users on a quarterly or slower basis… particularly for older phones.

For now it seems like folks who’ve bought a Samsung flagship phone in the past year or so will likely be covered, as are customers who buy new flagship phones or tablets this year. Here are the devices Samsung says will received four generations of major software upgrades and five years of security updates:

  • Galaxy S Series: Galaxy S22, S22+, S22 Ultra as well as Galaxy S21, S21+, S21 Ultra, S21 FE and upcoming S series devices
  • Galaxy Z Series: Galaxy Z Fold3, Galaxy Z Flip3 and upcoming Z series devices
  • Galaxy A Series: upcoming select A series devices
  • Galaxy Tablets: Galaxy Tab S8, S8+, S8 Ultra and upcoming Tab S series devices

The four year upgrade commitment also extends to the Samsung Galaxy Watch4, Watch4 Classic, and upcoming Galaxy Watch devices.

press release

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2 replies on “Samsung promises “up to” four major Android updates for some devices (and five years of security updates)”

  1. That’s nice. Samsung’s still playing catch up though. My 2013 iPad Air and 2016 iPhone SE are still getting security updates.

    Although that iPad Air is only used for monitoring/controlling security cameras. Mobile OS tablets just aren’t that useful for me.

    1. The 2013 iPad air stopped getting OS updates with IOS 12 (it got 5 OS updates in total). And security updates too. If it gets any security update now it’s some rare and exceptional stuff that can happen with any OS (like with some breaches Microsoft still updates Windows 7 or even XP, which are no longer getting security otherwise, this can happen even with older iPads by the way…). Apple has stopped providing security updates even for iPadOS 14.

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