Within the Android market competition seems to be heating up, especially in the mid-tier. Today Samsung has released a list of 38 phones and tablets that will now get three years of Android OS updates. If this isn’t market competition at work we don’t know what is.
If you have bought a Samsung Galaxy Device in the past year or so, you just might be in for some good news. Here’s the full list:
- Galaxy S series: Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G, S20 Ultra, S20+ 5G, S20+, S20 5G, S20 in addition to S10 5G, S10+, S10, S10e, S10 Lite and upcoming S series devices
- Galaxy Note series: Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G, Note20 Ultra, Note20 5G, Note20, Note10+ 5G, Note10+, Note10 5G, Note10, Note10 Lite and upcoming Note series devices
- Galaxy Foldable devices: Galaxy Z Fold2 5G, Z Fold2, Z Flip 5G, Z Flip, Fold 5G, Fold and upcoming Z series devices
- Galaxy A series: Galaxy A71 5G, A71, A51 5G, A51, A90 5G and select upcoming A series devices
- Tablets: Galaxy Tab S7+ 5G, Tab S7+, Tab S7 5G3, Tab S7, Tab S6 5G4, Tab S6, Tab S6 Lite and upcoming Tab S series devices
While that’s not every device they have released, and only really covers the past 12 months worth of releases it is refreshing to see devices from 2019, as well as the Galaxy A line of devices in the list. It seems Samsung still has a little wiggle room in this promise with some devices likely getting updates for three years from release, which may mean only two OS updates. Where are other devices like the S10 are promised three OS updates despite that actually being longer than three years from release date.
This is a promising move from undoubtedly one of the largest Android OEMs and hopefully something that other manufactures quickly follow suit with.
Really thinking of a Samsung is Pixel does not work out this year. Though it looks promising based on 4a review. Battery will be the deal breaker. Hopefully Samsung release a Snapdragon 765 phone to avoid Exynos processors at the high end. Possibly would come with a decent price tag also
I’d personally avoid Exynos processors like the plague. My S20 plus 5G battery life is terrible. I’m holding out for the 4a 5G or Pixel 5. I’ll never buy another Exynos powered phone.
Samsung allegedly refuses to fix Samsung phones in Australia that were originally intended for another market (e.g. Snapdragon Galaxy’s for the American market). However, you can buy an import and get it repaired through other companies but this won’t help you if you have a major software problem that would need fixing by the OEM. Also, 5G now complicates things because of the different standards implemented in different countries and by each carrier, so an import 5G phone with Snapdragon CPU may not have full network functionality unless it is fully compatible with local networks.
Did Samsung say anything about monthly security updates? From memory that’s an area where they haven’t been very timely in the past. It’s all very well having an OS update once per year, but if that one update also includes the past 12 months of security updates, that’s not so amazing
In my humble opinion, Samsung are greatly improved when it comes to monthly security updates. I usually get them within the same month, around 3 weeks or so after Google releases them. There’s still room for improvement, but gone are the days of no update for several months
From my experience ( heavy Samsung user ) the monthly updates are going out as you would expect. Not instantenious as they have to ensure the update doesnt bork the phones ( carriers here do have to approve them as well ) but realiabily. I have zero issue if my phones dont get a update for 3 weeks to ensure the quality. Honestly to me saying 3 years of OS updates im like Meh…. but the implication is the security updates are 3 years , as it makes no sense having no updates but hey we’ll give you Android 12