Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 and Ultra 2 will receive updates for longer than Pixel Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 8

The Samsung Galaxy Watch9 ($379 on Amazon) and the Galaxy Watch Ultra2 were officially unveiled on Wednesday. The smartwatches have primarily received an upgrade to the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear Elite, larger batteries, and new AI features, with the Galaxy Watch Ultra2 additionally featuring a 5,000-nit display and certification as a diving watch. Samsung has now confirmed to Sammobile that the latest smartwatches will also receive extended update support.

While the Samsung Galaxy Watch8 and the Galaxy Watch Ultra (2025) were set to receive four major operating system updates and five years of security patches, the latest smartwatches will receive five Wear OS updates. Security patches will continue to be provided for five years, as before. This means that the Galaxy Watch9 and the Galaxy Watch Ultra2 will receive updates up to Wear OS 12 as well as security patches through 2031.

With this move, Samsung is further extending its lead over Apple and Google, at least as far as update support is concerned. The Google Pixel Watch 4, for example, receives operating system and security updates for only three years. The Apple Watch also enjoyed relatively long update support for a while, but with the release of watchOS 27, Apple is shortening support for select models to just three years. Since Apple does not specify in advance how long different Apple Watch generations will receive updates, it is currently difficult to estimate how long the current Apple Watch Series 11 and Ultra 3 will continue to receive updates.