Samsung Android Update Policy
Most recent update to Samsung's Android update policy was made in February 2022 when the company decided to extend the support of its high-end phones to four major Android versions. Previously, back in February, 2021, Samsung already had extended its update policy for most of its higher-end phones to cover three major Android updates.
Current situation is somewhat murky, so here is the summary of Samsung's Android update policy.
According to Samsung's policy, company will provide four major Android updates after the phone's release date to these models:
- All Samsung Galaxy S series phones, starting with Samsung Galaxy S21 and onwards. (so, as Samsung Galaxy S21 shipped originally with Android 11, it will get Android 12, Android 13, Android 14 and Android 15 updates).
- All Samsung Galaxy Tab S series tablets, starting with Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 series.
- All Samsung Galaxy Z series phones, starting with Z Flip3 and Z Fold3.
And these models will get three major Android updates after the phone's release to these models:
- Samsung Galaxy S10 and Samsung Galaxy S20 series phones.
- Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2.
- All Samsung Galaxy Note devices, starting from Samsung Galaxy Note 10 series.
- Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 and Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 tablet series.
Besides those devices, it gets bit more tricky..
Samsung promises three major Android updates to selected Samsung Galaxy A series phones. Basically, all the A series models that are significantly more expensive, will get the three year promise. Cheaper A series phones aren't included here - and Samsung doesn't state clearly how they will make the decision on which phones are eligible and which aren't. Obvously, they'll inform about the update policy for each A series phone when they get launches, but as a rule of thumb, only the more expensive ones in A series get the 3 year promise.
For everything else, including A series tablets, the mid-priced and budget A series phones, M series phones, F series phones and others, there's no promise. According to Samsung, for those devices, company "will provide the latest Android OS upgrades until the hardware specifications allow to provide the optimized mobile experience". Whatever that means.