What you need to know
- Samsung Galaxy phones released in 2020 received their last monthly update with the March 2024 security patch.
- From now on, the Galaxy S20 series will get quarterly software updates until support is completely dropped.
- The specific smartphone models affected are the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20 Plus, Galaxy S20 Ultra, Galaxy S20 FE, Galaxy Note 20, and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.
Samsung made waves when it decided to extend software support for a handful of older devices a few years ago and more recently when it promised seven years of support for the Galaxy S24 series. However, through all of this, the Galaxy S20 series has been left out. The company's smartphones released in 2020 did not get the operating system upgrade to Android 14, and now, its run of monthly software updates has ended.
As Android Authority first reported, the Galaxy S20 series is no longer eligible for monthly updates and will receive them on a quarterly basis instead. Owners of the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20 Plus, Galaxy S20 Ultra, Galaxy S20 FE, Galaxy Note 20, and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra — all released in 2020 — should now expect updates four times a year, usually every three months. Following a lack of support for Android 14, the switch to quarterly updates is the latest step toward obsolescence for the four-year-old smartphone lineup.
While it might be disappointing to lose support for monthly security updates, this was somewhat expected. Samsung promised three years of OS upgrades for the Galaxy S20 series, which originally shipped with Android 10. After getting the bump to Android 13 in 2022, Samsung's original promise was met.
That means the last monthly update to reach Galaxy S20 smartphones is the March 2024 update. All the fixes in the April 2024 update won't hit this lineup of phones until the next quarterly update, which is slated for June 2024. Interestingly, the Galaxy 20 series will be supported for a total of five years with security updates — albeit less frequently — which exceeds Samsung's original promise.
Although the Samsung Galaxy S20 series won't have access to the April 2024 security update, it has already started reaching other devices. Samsung's Galaxy S24 series started seeing the April 2024 patch last week, and it included more than just bug fixes. Aside from those improvements, the April 2024 update featured support for 480p resolution with Instant Slow-Mo videos.
Fortunately, users who upgrade to the Galaxy S24 series can take advantage of seven years of software support, and that'll probably outlast the phone's hardware.
