The Samsung Galaxy S7 and Note FE have been relegated to a quarterly security patch schedule

Samsung has a rather straightforward software update policy. Two major updates and four years of security patches for its flagships. Sadly, even for the flagships, the last year of updates only sees them receive quarterly updates, and that is a fate now faced by the Galaxy S7 and Note FE.

The Galaxy S7 phones were released exactly three years ago and ran on Android Marshmallow out of the box. The devices received the Nougat and Oreo updates since then, which are the only major OS updates they’ll receive. They’re now also in their final years of support, and will only get quarterly updates from now henceforth.

Another device that gets the same treatment is the Galaxy Note FE, the retouched Note 7. Interestingly, the Note FE received the Pie update in certain regions last week, so it’s a bit surprising that the flagship is also relegated to the quarterly update pack.

The list of devices that will make do with quarterly updates is rather extensive but, perhaps the most notable of the lot are the new Galaxy M-series phones. Considering the fact that the phones are barely two months old, it’s rather off-putting that the South Korean OEM only promises quarterly updates for them.