At the Galaxy Note 20 series launch in August 2020, Samsung surprised fans by announcing that it would offer up to three generations of Android OS upgrades for its flagship devices. A few months down the line, the company launched the Galaxy S21 series and further extended its software update commitment, promising to deliver four years of security updates as well. This put Samsung at par with Google in terms of software support, but that didn't last long. With the launch of the Pixel 6 series last year, Google one-upped Samsung and promised up to five years of security updates for its latest flagships. Samsung is now raising the bar once again, beating Google at its own game.

At the Galaxy S22 series launch today, Samsung announced that it would offer up to four generations of Android OS upgrades to a handful of its premium devices. As you'd expect, the new Galaxy S22 series is eligible for four generations of Android OS upgrades. In addition, all devices in the Galaxy S21 series (including the Galaxy S21 FE), the Galaxy Z Fold 3, the Galaxy Z Flip 3, and the new Galaxy Tab S8 series are eligible for four generations of Android OS upgrades. In addition, all these devices are also eligible for five years of security updates, which is another massive improvement from the previous commitment (which in turn was also top of the class).

This means that the new Galaxy S22 series, Galaxy Tab S8 series, and Galaxy S21 FE will receive updates all the way to Android 16, as they come with One UI based on Android 12 out of the box. However, other Galaxy S21 series devices, the Galaxy Z Fold 3, and the Galaxy Z Flip 3 should receive updates until Android 15, as they launched with One UI based on Android 11. The change makes the recently launched Galaxy S21 FE a more viable purchase because Samsung will now keep it up to date longer than its flagship Galaxy S21 series models.

Note that the announcement mentions "up to" for both the timelines, so there's room to wiggle here. But based on the current track record, we're confident that Samsung will keep to its promise. Further, note that the update cadence and priority will change as the years pass, which is quite expected. Even with these points to consider, Samsung is the best in the market right now for OS and security updates.

What's your take on Samsung's new software update commitment? Do you think it will help the company attract more buyers? Let us know in the comments section below.