Samsung's long update promise: Separating marketing from reality

Security patches and new Android versions in 2031. Sounds too good to be true, but this is exactly what Samsung promises for its budget smartphone, the Galaxy A17 5G. But can and does the company really intend to keep its promise?

There were no promises in the past

The topic of "How long will software updates actually be available?" arose because many people no longer felt secure with their smartphones, some of which stopped being updated just months after purchase.

Although Apple has been offering long update cycles since the first iPhones, it doesn't promise anything concrete. And manufacturers in the Android universe have long been very secretive about the topic.

But why have companies been so coy about the topic? Well, first of all, regular updates have to be developed, which costs time and money. Secondly, it has often been argued that support for the installed hardware is not guaranteed in future Android generations.

The tipping point

That all changed a few years ago when more and more manufacturers began to realise that update guarantees were a real selling point. Today, all major manufacturers offer at least a short update promise.

The Samsung case

Samsung stands out from the crowd with its very long update timeframe. During our recent review of the Samsung Galaxy A17 5G, we were initially impressed by the promise of six years of updates.

But then we read more closely on Samsung's website, where we found two limitations to this promise: the addition of "up to" and the sentence: "The OS upgrade and security update policies specified above are subject to change".

This puts the update promise for the Galaxy A17 5G and other phones on shaky ground. Samsung could officially or quietly discontinue support for updates at any time and would not be bound by its pre-purchase promise.