Samsung Gets Even Better at Security Updates: Now at Least 4 Years

We weren’t joking a few weeks ago when we called Samsung the “King of Android Updates.” I know that declaration took some by surprise, but we’ve been tracking Samsung’s update progress for a number of years and are comfortable saying it. In news today, Samsung has further extended their update support and is telling you to get on board with us, assuming you had doubts.

While Samsung has already provided four years of security patches to many of its top Galaxy S and Galaxy Note phones, their wording is changing now so that they could add more years on. Certain Samsung phones will now receive “at least four years of security updates.”

Samsung is clear to point out that this means some will see quarterly updates and some will continue to see monthly, but this is extended support. We are hoping to get clarification on this, but this could be a sign that Samsung plans to support select phones for 5 years or on a monthly basis for 4. That’s pretty great news, since they currently drop phones back to quarterly in the 4th year.

Here is the list of devices that falls under this “at least four years” of updates category:

• Galaxy Foldable devices: Fold, Z Fold2 5G, Z Flip, Z Flip 5G
• Galaxy S series: S10, S10+, S10e, S10 5G, S10 Lite, S20 5G, S20+ 5G, S20 Ultra 5G, S20 FE 5G, S21 5G, S21+ 5G, S21 Ultra 5G
• Galaxy Note series: Note10, Note10+, Note10+ 5G, Note20 5G, Note20 Ultra 5G
• Galaxy A series: A10e, A20, A50, A11, A21, A51, A51 5G, A71 5G
• Galaxy XCover series: 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+

By offering a “minimum of four years” after a phone has been released, there isn’t anyone in Android that supports phones as long as Samsung does.

// Samsung