Get an Extra Year of Android Updates for These Samsung Phones and Tablets [updated]
In the past, you could get two major Android updates for Samsung phones and tablets – mostly in two years. After that Samsung couldn’t guarantee that your device will receive future Android updates, but now the company is a little more generous with Android support.
At Samsung’s Unpacked event earlier this month, the company announced that it is now going to provide some phones and tablets with a whopping three years of major Android updates. And this is not a deal “exactly 1095 days since phone launch,” but rather three full generations of Android updates.
Samsung has since released a blog post that explains its policies in more detail – confirming the generational aspect of this policy change and details which Samsung devices in particular are covered by its new three-year support policy. Spoiler alert: not every Samsung phone or tablet will get a white glove; generally only its higher-end devices are guaranteed three-year Android updates.
Full list of phones and tablets receiving additional generation Android updates:
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 future S series devices
Galaxy Note series: Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G, Note20 Ultra, Note20 5G, Note20, Note10 + 5G, Note10 +, Note10 5G, Note10, Note10 Lite and subsequent Note series devices
Foldable Galaxy Devices : Galaxy Z Fold2 5G, Z Fold2, Z Flip 5G, Z Flip, Fold 5G, Fold and Future Z Series Devices
Galaxy A series: Galaxy A71 5G, A71, A51 5G, A51, A90 5G and some 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 future Tab S devices.
All in all, this means that Samsung’s flagship phone should be able to receive three new versions of Android on every launch, as well as monthly security patches for that period – moving to quarterly for the fourth year if its default security setting just increased by a year due to this new policy. Not bad!
Update 08/18/20, TK pm: We have an official list of Samsung Android phones that will receive Android updates within three years, so we’ve updated this post to add them and clear up a few other facts.