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 is likely that the regular consumer versions of the phones will benefit from the development as well.
Samsung has been at the forefront of its game lately when it comes to delivering timely software updates to its phones. The South Korean company has now promised its current and older flagships five years of Android security patches. There is a catch, however.
The devices that are eligible for Samsung’s five-year update promise only include 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 receive four years of security updates, just like all other Samsung devices starting in 2019 or later.
Samsung’s Enterprise Edition phones are designed for businesses. They can be programmed and managed by companies with their proprietary work software and apps. Samsung is also equipping them with its Knox Suite, which 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 with the regular consumer version as you don’t need that additional business software.
There’s a good chance Samsung will also provide its non-enterprise models with security updates for five years.
As for security firmware, Samsung says the five-year patches for corporate flagship patches will be broken down into monthly and quarterly updates.
In the meantime, there’s a good chance Samsung will provide security updates to its non-enterprise-class flagship models for five years even though it only promises four years of updates for them. The company previously offered security patches to its company stocks for four years. Nevertheless, the consumer versions of the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S8 received updates every four years from their launch date.
