Samsung Galaxy Watch4, Galaxy Watch4 Classic and upcoming Galaxy Watch series devices to receive 'up to four years' of software updates
Wear OS smartwatches have a horrible track record of being abandoned. For example, Google has jettisoned all Wear OS smartwatches with the Snapdragon Wear 3100 platform or older, effectively all but a handful of recent releases. However, Samsung has announced that it will supply the Galaxy Watch4 series with updates until 2025.
In a press release, the company explains that the Galaxy Watch4, Galaxy Watch4 Classic and 'upcoming Galaxy Watch series devices' are in line for 'up to' four years of One UI Watch and Wear OS updates, matching the 'four generations of One UI' that it will provide to numerous Galaxy smartphones. The likes of the Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22+ and Galaxy S22 Ultra will receive a fifth year of security updates, though.
Theoretically, Samsung could match Apple's software support of Watch Series devices, which currently extends to over four years for the Watch Series 3. Still, it remains to be seen if four years of updates translate to four generations of One UI Watch. Typically, Google does not release yearly Wear OS upgrades. Instead, all Wear OS smartwatches bar the Galaxy Watch4 series remain on Wear OS 2.23, an OS that Google introduced in December 2020.
Worse still, Google bases Wear OS 2.23 on Android 9 H MR2. Wear OS 3 will only bring the platform to Android 11 as well; the whereabouts of an Android 12 update are unknown. Samsung's fine print does not inspire much confidence, which is as follows:
Availability and timing of One UI Watch upgrades and features may vary by device model and timing of Wear OS upgrades.
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