Samsung has been improving its update reputation a lot over the last few years. The company has been releasing major updates faster and has even come in ahead of its own schedule at times. Security update delivery has been especially impressive, frequently beating Google to the punch. Last summer, Samsung changed its update policy so that select devices released as far back as 2019 would get three major Android upgrades, matching Google's own policy. Today, Samsung is shaking things up again, extending its commitment to four years of security updates.
Samsung hasn't left any doubt as to which devices are included either, giving us a full list:
- Galaxy Foldable devices: Fold, Fold 5G, Z Fold2, Z Fold2 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: Note10, Note10 5G, Note10+, Note10+ 5G, Note10 Lite, Note20, Note20 5G, Note20 Ultra, Note20 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 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+
Google's Pixel phones, considered to be the gold-standard for updates, only get three years of security patches, and that's the end of it. To see Samsung go from the worst company for updates to what I now consider the best is impressive, and it deserves any praise it gets for the decision. Hopefully, this move will lead to other OEMs doing something similar.
Source: Samsung