Samsung races to the end of its Android 14 rollout as others just get started

We may sound like a broken record, but one can't praise Samsung enough for how it handles updates for Galaxy smartphones. Yes, the company is lacking in some ways, but for the most part, no Android manufacturer is as good as Samsung at software updates, especially when you take into account the insane number of devices it sells around the world.

Whether it's a security update or a major update that brings a new version of Android or One UI, Samsung works fast and never lets up. The latest example of that is the rollout of the Android 14-based One UI 6 update, which has reached so many Galaxy devices in a short time that we have lost count.

Particularly impressive is how quickly Samsung has updated some budget and mid-range phones to Android 14. Samsung hasn't just updated phones launched in 2023, it has even updated some mid-range devices that were launched back in 2021.

And there's nothing that highlights Samsung's speed with the Android 14 rollout as Nothing (pun intended), the British manufacturer founded by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei. Nothing launched its first phone, the Nothing Phone (1), in March last year, with a price-specs ratio that comfortably beat those of Samsung's best 2022 mid-rangers.

But on the software side of things, Nothing is running far behind: the Phone (1) has only just started receiving the first Android 14 beta! Yes, you read that right. Nothing Phone (1) owners are getting to test Android 14 at the tail end of December, nearly two months after Samsung started releasing the stable/official One UI 6 update for its devices.

If Samsung maintains its current course, it will probably be done rolling out Android 14 to almost all eligible Galaxy devices before Nothing can release the stable version of Android 14 for its first smartphone. Who knows, perhaps Samsung will even have One UI 6.1 ready by then? That may seem like a stretch, but then again, Samsung has made a habit of dazzling us with its software update game, so anything is possible.