The announcement of the Galaxy S23 FE coincided with Google's official release of Android 14 for Pixel smartphones. But as you may already be aware, Samsung's latest Fan Edition device made its debut running Android 13.
The S23 FE is eligible for four major OS upgrades, and one of those upgrades was effectively wasted because Samsung decided to launch the phone with a year-old version of Android. But is it possible it may only have been wasted for customers outside Europe?
Samsung has finally launched the Galaxy S23 FE in Europe, and as we had expected, markets in that region are getting the phone with Android 14 out of the box. That has been confirmed by customers who have received their Galaxy S23 FE deliveries in countries like Germany, and it could give them an important advantage.
Galaxy S23 FE could get an extra OS upgrade on a legal technicality
Samsung promises four generations of OS upgrades for the Galaxy S23 FE, and the strict consumer protection laws of the European Union may compel Samsung to update the S23 FE to Android 18 in the region, at least if the company takes the OS version a device runs out of the box is taken into account when applying its software update policy to its smartphones.
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If that happens, Samsung is sure to attract a lot of anger and disappointment from Galaxy S23 FE owners in the rest of the world. How will the Korean giant tackle the issue? Will it release Android 18 for the phone everywhere, leave it at Android 17 outside Europe, or simply end support at Android 17 without making an exception for European countries?
The second of those three options is more likely if we go by precedent: the Galaxy S5 Neo, a phone launched back in 2015, received an extra Android update in some markets. We have reached out to the Samsung for a comment and are hoping to get a proper reply, as otherwise we will have to wait for Android 18 — which is four years away — to get an answer to this burning question.
For now, look forward to One UI 6.1
Whether your Galaxy S23 FE came with Android 13 out of the box or Android 14, the next update you can look forward to is One UI 6.1. One UI 6.1 will debut with the Galaxy S24 series and is also in testing for existing devices, and the Galaxy S23 FE will be among the many eligible Samsung smartphones. One UI 6.1 will come with numerous AI-powered features, though it remains to be seen how many of those AI features will make their way to devices launched before the Galaxy S24, S24+, and S24 Ultra.
If your Galaxy S23 FE is still running Android 13, be sure to check for updates as Android 14/One UI 6.0 has been made available for it in several markets over the last few weeks. You can download updates from the phone's Settings » Software update menu.
