Ron Amadeo
Samsung is using Android updates and is offering four years of security updates on many of its Android devices. The company’s full update package now consists of three years of major OS updates and four years of security updates, which also offer the best that Google offers on the Pixel line.
In the announcement, Samsung says, “Over the past decade, Samsung has made significant progress in streamlining and expediting its regular security updates. Samsung has worked closely with its OS and chipset partners, as well as over 200 carriers around the world, to ensure that billions of Galaxy devices Timely security patches are received. “Samsung has experimented with bringing four-year updates to its own Exynos Soci devices, but now it looks like the company is also getting Qualcomm models on board.
Keep in mind that this is not necessary Monthly Security improvements. Samsung says it has been providing “monthly or quarterly” updates for four years, depending on the age of the device. Samsung’s current security bulletin page features the Galaxy S9 (2018) on a monthly update plan, while the Galaxy S8 is on a quarterly plan. So it looks like three years of monthly security updates and one more year of quarterly updates.
Receiving four years of security updates for the phone, the answer is “a lot”. It’s not just flagships; Including many mid-range devices and tablets going back to 2019, making “over 130 models”. Here is the complete list.
- Galaxy Foldable Devices: Fold, Fold 5G, Z Fold 2, Z Fold 2 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: Note 10, Note 10 5G, Note 10 +, Note 10 + 5G, Note 10 Lite, Note 20, Note 20 5G, Note 20 Ultra, Note 20 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 B Series: T Active B Active Pro, T Tab B Active 3, T Tab B A8 (2019), T Pen B A with S Pen, T Tab B A 8.4 (2020), T Tab B A7, T Tab B S5, T S B S6, TSB S6 5G, TTB S6 Lite, TTB S7, TTB S7 +
Samsung has been offering Android security updates longer than anyone else, but, when it comes to delivering Android OS updates, the company is still a slow big OEM. The company took three months to launch the Android 11 rollout, while Google, OnePlus, Oppo and Xiaomi were all fast. Samsung still doesn’t participate in Google’s Android beta program, which is – surprisingly – used by all fast companies. Samsung has also refused to follow the best practices of Android and add seamless update support, which allows users to apply all these updates without significant phone downtime.
Samsung’s new update plan is the best of any Android phone, but it’s still a palace compared to Samsung’s favorite rival, the Apple Pal. IOS still offers the best update plan in the industry, with iOS 14 support, back to phones introduced in iPhone 6S, 2015.
Google is now in an embarrassing position not to offer the best update plan for its operating operating system, but it’s hard to imagine that the company won’t run the Pixel line quickly to match Samsung. Google, after all, is where most of these patches come from, as it is the company that develops Android. Android source code still receives monthly security updates covering the new four versions of Android, going back to Android 8.1. If Google wants, it can do three years of big updates and then four More Security updates for later years. The code is out there.
There is still a lot of work to be done, but Samsung likes to push the Android update envelope. Android’s update situation is slowly getting better, one baby step at a time.
