Samsung announces four years of security updates for its Android smartphones

Once upon a time, Samsung was known to be the worst offender when it comes to updating its Android Smartphone lineup due to its heavily customized TouchWiz UI. Phones would usually take 6-7 months to receive a major Android version upgrade. Fast forward to 2021, and Samsung is ready to make the leap as the best OEM to provide both better major version upgrades as well as security updates for a long duration for its smartphones.

Samsung announced today that Galaxy devices will now receive regular security updates for a minimum of four years after a device’s initial release. While some models will get quarterly security updates, flagship models will receive monthly security updates. By extending security updates being delivered to Galaxy smartphones, users can heave a sigh of relief when it.

With this announcement, Samsung beats Google Pixel update strategy. Google only provides 3 years worth of major Android version upgrades as well as security updates. After which, phones are not guaranteed of any more updates. Samsung takes things up by a notch, where it now provides an additional year of security updates to its phones.

The company has also listed down more than 50 smartphone models that will be a part of this new strategy, which include:

• Foldables: Galaxy Fold, Galaxy Fold 5G, Galaxy Z Fold2, Galaxy Z Fold2 5G, Galaxy Z Flip, Galaxy Z Flip 5G
• S Series: Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+, Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10 5G, Galaxy S10 Lite, Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20 5G, Galaxy S20+, Galaxy S20+ 5G, Galaxy S20 Ultra, Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G, Galaxy S20 FE, Galaxy S20 FE 5G, Galaxy S21 5G, Galaxy S21+ 5G, Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
• Note Series: Galaxy Note10, Galaxy Note10 5G, Galaxy Note10+, Galaxy Note10+ 5G, Galaxy Note10 Lite, Galaxy Note20, Galaxy Note20 5G, Galaxy Note20 Ultra, Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
• A series: Galaxy A10, Galaxy A10e, Galaxy A10s, Galaxy A20, Galaxy A20s, Galaxy A30, Galaxy A30s, Galaxy A40, Galaxy A50, Galaxy A50s, Galaxy A60, Galaxy A70, Galaxy A70s, Galaxy A80, Galaxy A90 5G, Galaxy A11, Galaxy A21, Galaxy A21s, Galaxy A31, Galaxy A41, Galaxy A51, Galaxy A51 5G, Galaxy A71, Galaxy A71 5G, Galaxy A02s, Galaxy A12, Galaxy A32 5G, Galaxy A42 5G
• M series: Galaxy M10s, Galaxy M20, Galaxy M30, Galaxy M30s, Galaxy M40, Galaxy M11, Galaxy M12, Galaxy M21, Galaxy M31, Galaxy M31s, Galaxy M51
• XCover series: Galaxy XCover4s, Galaxy XCover FieldPro, Galaxy XCover Pro
• Tab series: Galaxy Tab Active Pro, Galaxy Tab Active3, Galaxy Tab A8 (2019), Galaxy Tab A with S Pen, Galaxy Tab A8.4 (2020), Galaxy Tab A7, Galaxy Tab S5e, Galaxy Tab S6, Galaxy Tab S6 5G, Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, Galaxy Tab S7, Galaxy Tab S7+

Samsung’s journey as an Android smartphone maker must be lauded. To see it going from being the worst company for updates to almost being the best is impressive. Hopefully other OEMs, including Google, can now play catch-up with Samsung.