If you plan on keeping your Samsung device for a few years down the line, your OEM has good news for you. They have just announced that Galaxy devices released from 2019 and onwards will now get at least four years of security updates. This means your smartphone and tablet can get an extended usable life span, even when it comes to the point that it won’t receive a major Android update anymore. This also means that the more entry-level devices will still get security updates beyond expectations.
To put things into perspective, currently, devices will only get monthly or quarterly security updates for the first two years of a device. The frequency actually depends on the device, with the higher-end flagship devices getting monthly updates while the more budget-friendly ones are just at a quarterly update. After some time even the premium devices get “downgraded” to a quarterly security update.
But now Samsung is promising that Galaxy smartphones and tablets from 2019 and above will be getting four years of “regular security updates”. It’s worth noting though that it was not mentioned whether it is monthly or quarterly as the term is what they previously referred to for updates on still supported devices but without the promise of a monthly or quarterly update. Still, this is something significant, expanding to four years the all-important security updates.
Samsung users should also take note that the promised updates refer only to security updates and not Android OS updates. The standard right now is to bring the OS update for up to two years of a device, although Samsung did announce last year that some of its flagship devices will now get “three generations of Android updates” starting with the Galaxy S10 and newer, but not including the Galaxy A series.
As for the four years of regular security updates, the following devices are eligible:
* Galaxy Foldable devices: Fold, Fold 5G, Z Fold2, Z Fold2 5G, Z Flip, Z Flip 5G
* Galaxy S series: S10, S10+, S10e, S10 5G, S10 Lite, S20, S20 5G, S20+, S20+ 5G, S20 Ultra, S20 Ultra 5G, S20 FE, S20 FE 5G, S21 5G, S21+ 5G, S21 Ultra 5G
* Galaxy Note series: Note10, Note10 5G, Note10+, Note10+ 5G, Note10 Lite, Note20, Note20 5G, Note20 Ultra, Note20 Ultra 5G
* Galaxy A series: A10, A10e, A10s, A20, A20s, A30, A30s, A40, A50, A50s, A60, A70, A70s, A80, A90 5G, A11, A21, A21s, A31, A41, A51, A51 5G, A71, A71 5G, A02s, A12, A32 5G, A42 5G
* Galaxy M series: M10s, M20, M30, M30s, M40, M11, M12, M21, M31, M31s, M51
* Galaxy XCover series: XCover4s, XCover FieldPro, XCover Pro
* Galaxy Tab series: Tab Active Pro, Tab Active3, Tab A 8 (2019), Tab A with S Pen, Tab A 8.4 (2020), Tab A7, Tab S5e, Tab S6, Tab S6 5G, Tab S6 Lite, Tab S7, Tab S7+
