Samsung’s update promise in real-world use: how up-to-date are its flagship smartphones?
Samsung’s new flagship phones from its foldable series have just been released, once again with a long update cycle. Samsung has placed special emphasis on this for years. That’s reason enough to take a closer look at the manufacturer’s update promise.
Anyone who spends a lot of money on a smartphone has every right to expect that a premium model will remain up to date for years. That’s why we took a closer look at the Galaxy S Ultra phones to see how up-to-date their software is. To do so, we examined the latest Ultra model (prices start around $1,050 at amazon.com) as well as the flagship models from 2025 and 2024.
Fortunately, even older models aren’t neglected or artificially held back. Instead, they receive important security updates without significant delay.
Samsung provides its Ultra smartphones with the latest software for years
Whether Samsung users are holding the new Galaxy S26 Ultra, last year’s Galaxy S25 Ultra, or the approximately 2.5-year-old Galaxy S24 Ultra, there are currently hardly any differences in software versions. All three generations of smartphones are running the latest One UI 8.5 user interface.
We also have no complaints regarding security updates, as all Ultra models are equipped with the latest patches from July 2026. The fact that even the Galaxy S24 Ultra. which is over two years old, receives the latest update package almost simultaneously is truly exemplary.
Our hands-on test shows that buyers of a Samsung Ultra smartphone are not only well protected in the long term but also receive new Android versions and the latest One UI features fairly quickly. In the future, this format will also be expanded to other manufacturers. Since we rely on editorial test devices for this, a simultaneous comparison across different brands is not possible.
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