In 2022, We Loved: Samsung Doing Updates

Dubbing Samsung the “King of Android Updates” a couple of years ago might have sounded ridiculous at the time. Most of the industry was still under the impression that only Google was good at updating devices on its platform and that everyone else was slow to push new software or for enough years. But that wasn’t the case then and it certainly isn’t now. In fact, Samsung has only expanded its lead as the best on Android.

For 2023, Samsung continued updating the lengthy-list of devices it supports. And for those who missed it, that list continues to grow because Samsung keeps adding years of support on. For a phone like the Galaxy S22, it will likely see updates into 2027. Samsung is also still regularly updating 4-year old phones like the Galaxy S10, which just saw a fresh update this week.

The big news is that going forward, all of the high-end phones from Samsung will get 4 big Android OS updates as well as 5 years of security patches. Samsung was previously doing 3 years of OS updates and 4 years of security. The list of devices getting the extra year of updates starts with the Galaxy S21 series and includes everything released after, like the Galaxy S22, Galaxy Fold 3 and 4, Galaxy Flip 3 and 4, and the Galaxy Tab S8 line. The Galaxy S23 is around the corner and it too should see the same level of support. I can’t imagine Samsung will add any additional years on, but I guess you never know.

This is important to point out because Google has committed to 3 years of OS updates and 5 years of security patches on its Pixel phones. While Google is pushing updates faster than anyone, it’s the lack of a 4-year commitment to OS updates that is a bit odd. If Samsung can do it, why can’t Google, especially now that Google is using its own Tensor chips? We’d love to know.

But Samsung didn’t just add more years of update support in 2022 – they updated so many phones to the newest version of Android (Android 13) and it seemed like it happened faster than ever and to more phones. The Galaxy S22 series was the first to get the update in October, but then at the end of November/beginning of December the S21, S20, and several Fold and Flip devices all picked it up as well. If you own a flagship Samsung phone from the past 3 years, it should be on Android 13 and One UI 5 already and 2022 isn’t over.

2023 should at least bring us more of the same from Samsung, but they did commit to trying to update phones even faster to Android 14 and the next One UI. Samsung isn’t slowing down.