Samsung announces 3 years of Android version updates support for some of its Galaxy phones

Samsung has announced that it will be supporting 3 years of Android updates for some of its devices. This highlights the biggest issue that Android suffers from, OS fragmentation.

Many Android OEMs provide just 2 years of Android version updates, while some support 1 year of upgrades, after which they are completely abandoned. Some OEMs including Google do provide an extra year’s worth of updates, but these are limited to security patches.

Business Korea reports that Samsung will begin updating its devices to Android 11, starting with the Galaxy S20 lineup. The S20 series will get 3 years of upgrades, meaning Android 11, 12 and 13.

Samsung Galaxy devices eligible for 3 years of Android updates

Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G
Galaxy S20 Ultra
Galaxy S20+ 5G
Galaxy S20+
Galaxy S20 5G
Galaxy S20
Galaxy S10 5G
Galaxy S10+
Galaxy S10
Galaxy S10e
Galaxy S10 Lite

Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
Galaxy Note20 Ultra
Galaxy Note20 5G
Galaxy Note20
Galaxy Note10+ 5G
Galaxy Note10+
Galaxy Note10 5G
Galaxy Note10
Galaxy Note10 Lite

Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
Galaxy Z Fold2
Galaxy Z Flip 5G
Galaxy Z Flip
Galaxy Fold 5G
Galaxy Fold

Galaxy A71 5G
Galaxy A71
Galaxy A51 5G
Galaxy A51
Galaxy A90 5G

Galaxy Tab S7+ 5G
Galaxy Tab S7+
Galaxy Tab S7 5G
Galaxy Tab S7
Galaxy Tab S6 5G
Galaxy Tab S6
Galaxy Tab S6 Lite

The list while impressive is missing quite a few phones, most notably the entire Samsung Galaxy M series, Galaxy J Series and many Galaxy A series devices. It basically confirms that these phones will not get 3 years of Android Updates.

In comparison, Apple provides 5 years of iOS updates for all of its iPhones, which outdoes Android OS support by providing 5 years.