[Software] How many software updates will the Galaxy S23 get?

[Shyloo]

How many software updates will the Galaxy S23 get?

 

As impressive as the new Samsung Galaxy S23 range of smartphones is, the improvements over the Galaxy 22 series are mostly incremental. As a result, you might be thinking of sticking with your current handset or hoping to pick up a previous-generation phone at a deal price. This can be a savvy approach, but you should also consider how long Samsung will support your next phone. To this end, we’ve looked at how many software updates the Galaxy S23 will get.

Whichever phone in the Galaxy S23 range you go for, you’ll be treated to the Android 13-based One UI 5.1 software. Developed specifically for the latest Galaxy flagships, One UI 5.1 brings a host of new features, some of which are exclusive to the S23 series. It will get its first major update to Android 14 later this year, and that will be the first of four software updates to which Samsung has committed.

That will take the Galaxy S23 software updates through until 2027. Android 17, if that is how Google is still referring to its OS updates by that time, will be the final update that the Galaxy S23 phones receive in 2026.

If you choose to hold on to your handset for that long or you decide to pick one up at a discount in the coming months and years, then you can be reassured that it will also be protected. Samsung will provide five years of security patches to the S23 range. That means your smartphone will be secure until at least 2028, by which time you might well have your eye on the next cutting-edge flagship.

Samsung may have felt compelled to make these commitments — more than the minimum proposed by the EU — to keep up with its iOS rival. Apple doesn’t tend to make firm statements on how many updates each iteration of iPhone will receive, but it has regularly led the way in this regard. Past generations have regularly received at least six years of updates and sometimes up to eight years. Samsung’s commitment should reassure buyers who may be deciding whether to splash out on the Galaxy S23 now or wait for the iPhone 15 to arrive.