Samsung Drops Galaxy S20 to Quarterly Update Schedule (Updated)

The Samsung Galaxy S20 line was released 4 years ago and I’m not sure anyone expected at the time that we’d still be talking about monthly updates for it. That’s happening today, because after those 4 quick years, Samsung is dropping the Galaxy S20 series down to its quarterly update schedule, along with the Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

If we rewind back to the launch of the Galaxy S20, there was some confusion around the update situation for Samsung’s then-newest flagships. They were talking about providing “at least four years of security updates,” but we weren’t sure if that meant 4 years of monthly patches followed by a 5th year of quarterly updates or what. As it turns out, our gut was right in assuming 4 years of monthly patches followed by a 5th year of quarterly. That’s a lot of a support for an Android device.

Today, Samsung moved the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, Galaxy S20 Ultra, Galaxy S20 FE, Galaxy Note 20, and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra into the quarterly section of its update schedule tracker. These updates will all still see updates, likely for the next year, every 3 months or so. The Galaxy S20 received its March update at the end of last week, so it may not see one now for several months. The same goes for the Galaxy Note 20, which saw the March update in the middle of last month.

It’s fun to see support for devices hit this length of time, because when these initiatives are announced, they are often questioned. People have trouble looking that far into the future and expecting Android manufacturers to keep promises. So far, at least Samsung and Google continue to keep up their end of the bargain.

Finally, I’ll point out that the Galaxy S20 is done receiving Android version updates, so if you want new toys to play with as a Galaxy S20 owner, it might be time to find a new phone. It’s last big Android update was Android 13 well over a year ago. It did not receive Android 14 and One UI 6. Note 20 owners, you are in the same boat.

• UPDATE 4/3: Samsung must have realized that the Galaxy Note 20 line shouldn’t drop to quarterly until later this year and moved it back up into the regular schedule. Expect that to officially change around August or September of this year.

// Samsung