Samsung now promises 5 years of security updates for some flagships

Eric Zeman / Android Authority

TL;DR

• Samsung has promised five years of security updates for the Galaxy S20, S21, Note 20, and a few other devices.
• The new update policy currently applies to Samsung’s enterprise edition models.
• However, it’s likely that the regular consumer versions of the phones will also benefit from the development.

Samsung has been at the top of its game lately when it comes to providing timely software updates to its phones. Adding another feather to its cap, the South Korean company has now promised five years of Android security patches to some of its current and older flagships. However, there’s a catch.

The devices eligible for Samsung’s five-year update promise include only the enterprise edition of the Galaxy S20 series, Galaxy S21 series, Galaxy Note 20 series, Galaxy XCover 5, and the Galaxy Tab Active 3. All other enterprise devices will get four years of security updates, just like all other Samsung devices from 2019 or later.

Samsung’s enterprise edition phones are meant for businesses. They can be programmed and managed by companies with their proprietary work software and apps. Samsung also equips them with its Knox Suite that serves as a mobile command center for companies. While you can pick up a Samsung enterprise edition phone online, you’ll probably want to stick to the regular consumer version because you don’t need all that extra enterprise software.

There's a good chance that Samsung will also provide five years of security updates to its non-enterprise models.

As far as the security firmware goes, Samsung says the five years of patches for enterprise flagships will be broken up into monthly and quarterly updates.

Meanwhile, there’s a good chance that Samsung will also provide five years of security updates to its non-enterprise flagship models even though it only promises four years of updates for them. The company previously offered four years of security patches for its enterprise stock. Still, the consumer versions of the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S7, and Galaxy S8 all received four years of updates from their launch date.

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