Didja see? Samsung’s pledging a full 4 years of assist for safety updates on its Galaxy-branded Android phones. Properly, shiver me timbers: That certain is somethin’!
Samsung slapped the news down onto these right here internerfs of ours Monday morning, and the glowing headlines predictably adopted — with some tales going so far as to proclaim Samsung as the brand new undisputed “king of Android upgrades” or to declare that the corporate was now “beating Google at its personal recreation.”
Yeaaaaaaaah. That, my mates, is what we name an efficient press launch rollout.
Do not get me incorrect: Samsung’s newly said dedication is good news, indisputably, and it is hopefully a transfer that’ll solely spur extra corporations within the Android universe to comply with swimsuit (yay!). However there’s additionally extra to it than you see on the floor (aww!) — and the state of affairs is not practically as black and white as some interpretations would depart you to imagine (ohh…). So let’s take a minute to discover the nuances of Samsung’s shift and wrap our moist person-brains round what’s really occurring right here, lets?
First, for context: For some time now, most Android device-makers have — at the least in theory — agreed to supply a minimal of two years of working system updates and safety patches for his or her top-tier, flagship-level telephones. Final yr, Google bumped that as much as a three-year assure for its personal Pixel telephones (insert suggestive eyebrow raise here), and Samsung quickly provided an analogous promise for a few of its Galaxy units (albeit without the same assurance of timeliness hooked up).
So now, what Samsung is doing is taking {that a} step additional by saying it will present the Android safety patches for an further yr past that three-year interval — which, once more, is unbelievable. Whereas full-fledged working system upgrades completely do play a significant role in areas like efficiency, privateness, and safety, the smaller safety patches alone are nonetheless significantly better than nothing (clearly, proper?!). And realizing you will obtain these for 4 years as an alternative of three — or generally even much less — is a invaluable little bit of assurance for anybody who hangs onto a telephone even as soon as it is reached, erm, aged golden-ager standing.
However — properly, we have these huge buts to debate. We could?
The primary huge however with Samsung’s improve announcement
Okay, first: The query of when and how typically a Samsung Android system will obtain these safety updates as a part of this newly formalized plan is vexingly ambiguous. Some Samsung telephones, y’see, are set to obtain safety updates month-to-month — on the similar cadence these patches are launched by Google and meant to be delivered. Others are down for less than quarterly safety patch rollouts. And others but are one class decrease, below a decidedly imprecise “common updates” designation.
Samsung does not elaborate on what, precisely, “common updates” entail — but it surely appears secure to say it is one thing much less frequent than quarterly, since it is a separate class that is one notch down within the checklist. A “common replace” that is a step beneath quarterly may arrive solely twice a yr — or perhaps even simply as soon as. It is as much as interpretation, tellingly, however assuming it is a price that is meaningfully lower than 4 instances a yr looks like an affordable conclusion to make, being that Samsung went out of the way in which to create that additional class for it.
Now, that is nonetheless higher than nothing — proper? Absotively! That is very true in that fourth yr, when most Android telephones can be getting exactly bupkis. However, properly, Samsung is not solely placing units which can be in their fourth yr into that class.
As an illustration: Based on the corporate’s present device status breakdown, the top-of-the-line Galaxy Tab S4 — which launched in August of 2018 and value a cool $649 to begin (or $800, if you happen to bought its most cost-effective out there choice with the advised keyboard attachment) — is already all the way down to “common” safety replace standing, regardless of being lower than three years previous. The identical is true for a number of midrange telephone fashions from 2018.
The enterprise-aimed Galaxy A8, in the meantime, is already within the quarterly replace class in its third yr of life. The identical is true for the top-tier Galaxy Tab S7 and S7+, which simply got here out this previous September. Most of Samsung’s midrange telephones are additionally listed for quarterly safety updates at finest, regardless of after they had been launched.
And while you’re evaluating that to Google’s personal Pixel replace dedication, the comparability is not fairly as black and white as some people round these interwebs have been making it out to be. Google presently sends safety updates to all of its Pixel telephones, together with the $350 “a” fashions, on a month-to-month foundation — because the updates are launched — for 3 years. And it sends full working system updates to all of these units kind of immediately, too, for that very same three-year interval.
Samsung, as we simply established, sends safety patches each single month for some of its telephones however then supplies these updates solely quarterly or “commonly” for others, with no specific assure of when a telephone may transfer from one state to the following — so whereas it does now proceed these updates for 4 years as an alternative of three, in some instances, you will find yourself with a lot much less frequent updates for a good half or even perhaps all of that point. And regardless of the corporate’s relative improvements over these previous couple years, its reliability with precise working system upgrades continues to be anything but optimal and considerably behind Google’s normal. So that you win some, you lose some, in different phrases; any benefit provided by the brand new fourth-year addition is offset by these hefty and underemphasized asterisks.
And all of that, m’expensive, is however solely our first huge however.
The second huge however with Samsung’s improve announcement
Put together your self: This second huge however is a juicy one, and it is largely being forgotten amidst this week’s dialogue. So right here it’s: Two months in the past, Google and Qualcomm announced that the most recent collection of Qualcomm chips would assist — look ahead to it — 4 years of safety updates for Android telephones. Yup. So what Samsung is doing is not really breaking new floor however moderately following that earlier announcement with its personal embrace of the identical idea.
Now, let’s not decrease the optimistic right here: Any enchancment is an enchancment value celebrating, particularly on the subject of the oft-discouraging space of Android upgrades. However Samsung utilizing this information to place itself as an industry-leading innovator is perhaps only a teensy bit disingenuous. As is usually the case right here in these mossy mobile-tech waters of ours, a bit of context goes a great distance in taking us past the press launch headlines and letting us determine what’s really occurring.
Zooming out extra broadly, it will be attention-grabbing to see if and the way Google evolves its personal software program assist commitments when its subsequent era of latest Pixel telephones lands later this yr. The joint announcement with Qualcomm suggests Google will on the very least honor that four-year interval for safety updates, like Samsung — solely with the doubtless twist that all Pixel telephones would obtain the updates each single month, with none quarterly or “common” downgrades in designation or any murkiness surrounding which tier any given system will fall into and for the way lengthy.
Past that, if Google’s first selfmade processors make their manner into Pixel telephones this fall, as anticipated, it is totally potential even longer assist life could become more feasible from Google’s perspective — one thing I have been hoping to see for some time and that might finally encourage even broader progress all through the whole Android ecosystem.
The realm of Android upgrades has been overdue for enchancment for a lot too lengthy now, and with a bit of luck, what we’re seeing now’s simply the beginning — even when this week’s information in and of itself won’t be fairly as earth-shattering because it appears on the floor.
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