Samsung is considering updating phones for more than 5 years, following Google’s lead

Samsung is considering providing phones with security updates for more than five years, following Google’s lead. The manufacturer does not yet seem inclined to provide more OS upgrades than the maximum four it currently provides.

The five-year period is no longer in line with Samsung’s vision, says a Samsung executive in an interview with SamMobile. Moreover, European rules may be coming that will require smartphone manufacturers to provide seven years of updates. In addition, Google announced last week that the new Pixels will receive seven years of updates and upgrades.

With Samsung it would only concern seven years of security updates. Whether the manufacturer would also like to offer more than four OS upgrades was not part of the conversation. That is not obvious, because security updates are smaller and easier to push to many phones. Upgrades are more drastic and will probably not become mandatory under rules for telephone support.

Samsung has now offered four OS upgrades and five years of security updates for many of its phones since 2019. This puts the manufacturer ahead of almost all competitors. Only Google and Fairphone have longer support for new phones.