Galaxy S22 misses out on this old, but important Android feature

Over the past few release cycles, Samsung has upped its software upgrade game for all of its devices and not just the high-end ones. However, the newly-launched Galaxy S22 still misses out on this major quality-of-life improvement that has existed on Android for several years.

9to5Google discovered that the Galaxy S22 does not support Android's seamless upgrades features. It essentially partitions the phone' storage into A/B partitions and juggles between both of them while installing major updates. For example, if Partition A is currently being used, the update will be installed in Partition B and vice versa.

It is unclear why Samsung neglected to add seamless updates to the Galaxy S22 series. Its predecessors suffered the same fate and the situation is unlikely to change in the future. It could have something to do with Samsung's on-device security measures, but Samsung is yet to issue a clarification.

Seamless updates are helpful for several reasons. One can roll back a buggy update relatively easily without completely wiping the device. Users have also used the A/B partitions to dual-boot two separate custom ROMs, but that's well beyond the scope of the average Joe.

Unlike competitors such as Xiaomi and OnePlus, Samsung doesn't want its user base tinkering around with its devices too much, especially the ones that come with Knox protection. However, one can't fathom why it would deliberately omit a feature that has been a staple on most Android devices for the better part of the last five years.

Join SamMobile’s Telegram group and subscribe to our YouTube channel to get instant news updates and in-depth reviews of Samsung devices. You can also subscribe to get updates from us on Google News and follow us on Twitter.