Matthew Miller
Samsung on Monday announced that it’s extending the amount of time it will provide security updates for its Galaxy phones from three years to “a minimum of four.”
Samsung releases security updates to its Android-powered phones, either monthly or quarterly, incorporating the monthly updates provided by Google that fixes bugs and vulnerabilities in the operating system. You can view how often your Samsung device should receive updates on Samsung’s update site.
Today’s announcement doesn’t apply to devices made four years ago. It goes back to phones and tablets made in 2019, and, of course, everything new going forward. Here’s the list Samsung published of devices covered by the new policy:
- 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 ensuring a device receives security updates for a number of years after it was produced, Samsung is trying to provide peace of mind to customers, new and old alike.
To be clear, the updates Samsung is talking about here won’t add new features or keep the operating system up to date with the latest version of Android. The long-term update plan is strictly for security fixes.
Monday’s news comes at the same time that Gartner announced Apple passed up Samsung for the first time in five years as the global leader in smartphone sales.
