I really love Samsung smartphones. For their external beauty, functionality and powerful hardware. Yes, with such hardware as theirs, they could easily compete in computing power with computers, and in photo quality – with professional cameras. It's a pity that their software support has always been frankly so-so. No, Samsung has pulled off a lot lately, starting to roll out monthly security updates even before Google. But, as for the full versions of the operating system, everything was not very good here. The key word was.
This is an old Galaxy S10e and will be updated for three years
Samsung will increase the update timeline for its flagships to three years. But, unlike OnePlus, which also claims three years of support, and releases only security patches in the third year, the Koreans have promised as many as three major updates Android. That is, if the smartphone came out on Android 10, its support will stop not on Android 12, like all other brands, but on Android 13. This is real a breakthrough for the industry, because in my memory no other manufacturer has done this, except Apple.
Smartphones that update the longest
Three years of updates on Android is nonsense
Despite the fact that the practice of the three-year update was announced – and even then, quietly – at the presentation of the Galaxy Note 20, it will apply to all future flagships and several existing ones. They will be the Galaxy S20, Galaxy Fold, Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy S10. But for some reason nothing was said about the Galaxy Note 10. But given that last year's 'laptop' belongs to the same generation as the S10, Samsung is likely to extend its support as well. In any case, it would be logical and fair in relation to consumers.
Of course, Samsung's new initiative will find a great response from users who are already accustomed to the fact that their smartphone is shamelessly outdated after two years of use. After all, three years of support Android – a smartphone is a real nonsense. However, you need to take into account one small nuance, which is the release time. After all, if the same Google Pixel comes out towards the end of the year, then the Galaxy S smartphones go on sale in February. Because of this, they still come out on the old version of the OS. Therefore, in this way, Samsung matches the actual life of the smartphone with the timing of its update.
Why updates are needed
Galaxy Note 20 came out on Android 10, but support will only end on Android 13
Does this affect the perception of Samsung's new initiative? Of course not. Users Android, in principle, are not used to being cared for so much, and now they've added an extra year of support. As a result, this will lead to even more serious consequences than one could imagine:
- Samsung smartphones will buy more because they last longer;
- Samsung smartphones in the future will be more functional than any other;
- Samsung smartphones will be on sale longer and cheaper, because they will not be forgotten in two years.
In general, literally everyone will benefit from the extension of support: Samung, users, and retailers, who will not need to drop prices in order to somehow attract consumers.
But, most importantly, now Samsung smartphones will more or less match their hardware. No, well, just imagine that with the previous support periods, the Koreans had to refuse to update the Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G with 16 GB of RAM and a price of more than 100 thousand rubles already next year. Of course, this could not please the users. But here Samsung does a trick with its ears and extends the support period for a whole year. Yes, it's still worse than Apple, which updates iPhone for 5 years, but noticeably better than everyone else.