Update, August 5, 2020 (12:15 PM ET): Samsung confirmed with Android Authority that Samsung Android upgrades will now last for three generations of the operating system. This new policy will apply to the Galaxy S10, S20, Note 10, and Note 20 lines. The original article below has been rewritten to reflect this info.
Today, during Galaxy Unpacked, Samsung launched the Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. Towards the end of the event, though, the company confirmed that the Android upgrade cycle of the devices would be longer than usual.
Federico Casalegno, Samsung’s global SVP, said that Samsung is “supporting your operating system for three generations of devices.” While he said it, on the screen, it showed a headline that said “OS updates up to three generations” and then “latest features” and “latest security.”
This made us think that Samsung Android upgrades would come for three generations of Android rather than the usual two. We reached out to Samsung to clarify this, and the company upped the ante: it confirmed that the extended upgrade schedule applies to the Galaxy S10, Galaxy S20, and Note 10 lines, too.
Samsung Android upgrades: Three years now?
We are still trying to come up with clear confirmation on what this exactly means. As far as we can tell, this is what Samsung confirmed today:
- Galaxy S10 and Note 10 families: Started with Android 9 Pie, then received Android 10. Will receive Android 11 this year and then Android 12 in 2021.
- Galaxy S20 and Note 20 families: Start with Android 10, will receive Android 11. Will eventually receive Android 12 and then Android 13 in 2022.
Now, it’s possible that that schedule could be wrong and Samsung could be planning to commit to Android 13 for the 2019 lineup and Android 14 for this year’s flagships. We are still in communication with the company to pin down exactly what the new Samsung Android upgrades policy is.