[Poll] Does Samsung’s update policy affect your decision to buy a new Galaxy smartphone?
Samsung announced earlier this week that Android 6.0 will be rolling out to the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge and other Galaxy devices in the coming weeks. It was a welcome announcement, but it also got us thinking: Why did the release of the newest version of Android for existing devices come just a week before Samsung’s latest flagships are set to be unveiled? The answer is pretty clear we guess, and it’s a tradition that the company has followed for a long time now.
At a time when smaller manufacturers like HTC and Motorola are rushing out software updates (if only in certain markets) without making consumers wait for months on end just so they can announce newer smartphones, Samsung is disappointingly unwilling to change. Okay, so it did change a little by allowing users to take part in a beta testing program, but even that was limited to just two markets around the world.
To say Samsung’s software is huge and needs to be tested would be an overstatement. HTC’s software isn’t the lightest out there either, but the Taiwanese manufacturer manages to complete everything from porting to testing in a matter of weeks. With Samsung’s resources, doing the same (or even doing it faster) shouldn’t be a problem. It just looks like the Korean giant is unwilling to roll out software updates to an existing flagship before the next one gets announced.
There’s no guarantee that the next major version of Android that comes along later this year will come to the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge before the Galaxy S8 goes official, just like the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+ and the Galaxy Note 5 are still waiting for Marshmallow. Which brings us to the question of the day: Does Samsung’s software update policy affect your purchasing decision of the company’s new flagships? Not just the Galaxy S7, which will be hogging all the limelight in the next couple of months, but generally as well?
Let us know through the poll below, and do leave a comment with your thoughts on the matter.
65 Comments
Sign in »65
Leave a Reply
Yes it it affects my decision very much now i hate samsung very more in the begining mi was a big fan. But not screw samsung. You will lose more customers trust bullshiting them with a stupid service of not updating not only budget phones but flagships devices as wel.
Samsung really sucks in software support
With my note 5 I can’t enjoy marshmallow 6 months after it has been released. I’m not going to buy any samsung device anymore.
my note 3 neo got lollipop 3 months after marshmallow launch -.-
When someone spends 700€ on a Smartphone, one expects a little better support on this aspect !!!
Pretty much the only thing apple and nexus has right, IMO, is the updates. I wish samsung would follow suit and take control of their own updates and not leave it up to the carriers. If they could get the updates out quickly and on as many flagship devices as possible, it would fix (what’s considered to be) one of their biggest failings. A new OS is not a big deal but security and stability patches are. If they could handle that on their own, without screwing it up, it would go a long way towards customer satisfaction.
IMHO Samsung needs to start looking after the customers they have by updating their devices to the newest Android OS asap. At present it looks to me that they expect you to buy the newest device they bring out BUT they only need to look at their falling sales for the penny to drop that there is not that much spare money around to buy new devices all the time. At the end of the day Samsung are not interested in you unless you are buying their new devices.
I think note 3 must receive android 6, because this is expensive phone, we paid for brand and for firmware support. First android 6 release 6 mounts ago, our firmware support is 2 years. You samsung too late. We do not receive 5.1.1. What I can say more, I never buy samsung again. I think when I give a lot of money for power note 3 i receive 3 years support. You think how to earn more money , but you lost a lot of customers. A lot of people have 2 phones or 3. I have Iphone 6s and… Read more »
+1，note4 also and wtf samsung j5 have theme service but note 3 note 4 s5 no theme service!!wtf?so note 4 is cheaper than j5??
The Xperia Z1, LG G2, One M7, GS4 are not getting the update, so what reason makes the Note 3 worthy? You paid more or it’s just the way it is for non Nexus phones.
Note 5 N920C – have disaster update policy .
This is the first year I’m not buying Samsung devices anymore as I just bought a Honor 5x after my Galaxy Note 3 !
There is no mean to spend more money for an expensive device if I don’t have a better firmware support.
Honor 5x is doing the job pretty well for a dual-sim + micro SD slots device including the rest of the hardware specifications and specially for a very fair price.
Goodbye Sammy !
Samsung update service centre sucks Sony Motorola get earlier No more samsung for me only company that brings many stupid devices a year and yet not updating them people who dont see that really sucks.
Wish u lock buy more samsung devices.
Funny that there’s actually 15% “cheerleaders” apparently. Good luck propping up Samsung’s “planned obsolescence” policy with your money they’ll surely need it soon enough.
6 month wait to have a major security patch passed on when Google had it finished all ready, get real…..
I get why people would be upset to not have the latest Android but then again those users don’t understand the hard work that goes into porting the latest Android in a vast amount of other phones and having to make sure that it works perfectly otherwise what is the point of updating if it will make your phone a worse experience. Not all of Samsung’s phones are made equal I know that much but I’m not bothered about constantly having the latest software, I could just wait for 2 years then get a newer device that has the latest… Read more »
If I’m totally honest, the intrigue with a new version of Android wears off fairly quickly and I go back to using it the same way I was using it prior to the update. I think it’s a placebo effect caused by all the hype more than anything. I would much rather prefer they released a cleaner TouchWiz without bloat than release a new version of Android, since that WOULD be noticeable.
I completely agree with you
There’s “latest software” and then there’s built-in security patches. The latter are universally crucial whichever side you stand on.
Technological progress’ pace has no bearing on a for profit company’s responsibility to protect its user base.
I have been checking out apps to replace S-Note if I have to jump ship.
Absolutely and I have Verizon to make things worse. I have gone back and forth between LG and Samsung for years with a occasional Motorola. Nexus has now become a real possibility. All though if I had to replace my Note 4 today the V 10 probably would win.. I will not buy a Note 5……..I swap and use my remote battery charger, IR blaster ect.. I have more stored on the phone than I could put on the 5. 2TB card on the v 10. III
No, as i have a Nexus for updates and other stuff while a Samsung device for testing custom TouchWiz ROM’s, optimised development and others but both devices are rooted
TouchWiz is feature rich, it needs more time to make. The problem is with Google, they always rush and release the latest version of Android. Sammy won’t have the time to quickly update their smartphones. It is a marketing strategy for Google to get its Nexus lineup some sales.
sammy z losing my trust fo sure
i hate how they burried the note 3 .wil neva forgive them for that
Yeah we and samsung both are idiots…we r idiots bcoz we trust them and buy it but they always breaking trust from galaxy s duos which was confirmed to get 4.1 but stucked on 4.0.4 … we should have understood the bad work of sammy from start…but we forgave them always and they get a chance to fool usn..again
This will never change, Note 5 and GS6 users will be lucky to even get any update after 6.0.1, if they gonna get it at all, some models will some other will be left behind.
I do love my Note 5 as it the best phone i ever had,but with lack of updates that coming years after original date, i gonna leave sammy for good probably.
Even though it’s really irritating what Samsung is doing with updating its smartphones , I still found it the strongest company in the market and I really can’t find better . I’m not speaking statistically but between the majority of ppl I came a cross will say the same since they got all kind of prices and varieties and when it comes to high quality as Note or GS lines they really listen to consumers and we can see that in the rumors putting the SD card slot back in the GS7 it’s really good step to win back the… Read more »
I care about updates and Samsung is far from great at them, but sadly there’s not much competition:
– I profoundly dislike iOS, so that’s not an option
– Nexus receive updates, but the hardware is meh and the software is barebones and boring.
So I still buy Samsung, but paradoxically I tend to keep devices for far longer than I would if they provided timely updates. Why bother buying the latest and greatest if it’s not going to receive prompt security patches, same as the hardware I’ve already got?
the only S6 edge update that it has been released is in the samsung CEO imagination
S7 will get software improvements for a few months after launch and then as the rest will not get any
I’m switching from the S5 G900F to the Sony xperia Z6 as soon as this on gets released. As the international S5 is still on Android 5.0. Even the S4 got 5.02. But it got no 5.1 either. No updates for more than a year. Thats a total no go for a flagship device.