Samsung just out-Googled the Pixel at guaranteeing Android updates

Android updates might be the butt of many a joke, but Samsung is working hard to make sure it’s no laughing matter for Galaxy owners. Just months after promising most new Galaxy phones would be receiving three generations of Android version updates, Samsung today vowed to deliver four years of security updates to nearly every Galaxy phone made since 2019.

That’s an impressive promise for a phone company that, just a year ago, wasn’t guaranteeing anything in terms of updates. Most new phone purchases were good for a year or two of updates, but only the Pixel, which is made by Google, and Android One-based phones were on the record about how long you would be receiving updates.

Now Samsung is doing one better than Google, which guaranteed only three years of version and security updates for its Pixel phones. And that’s just a small group of handsets. Samsung is guaranteeing more than 130 models are in line to get updates going back to the Galaxy S10 from 2019:

• 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+

So if you’re pondering picking up, say, a Galaxy S21 Ultra, which just so happens to be on sale at Amazon today, let this be the reason you commit: Not only will you get Android 14, you’ll also get the latest security updates through 2025.

Michael Simon covers all things iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch, with a little Android thrown in. You can usually find him with his nose buried in a screen. The best way to yell at him is on Twitter.