By now, Samsung has established its superiority in the matter of software updates, that much is for sure. Back in 2019, Samsung became the first manufacturer to promise three generations of Android OS upgrades to mid-range and flagship phones alike. And later on, Samsung decided three major upgrades weren't enough and bumped the number up to four, which was just unheard of in the world of Android devices.
Some manufacturers are now trying to take inspiration from Samsung – one example is OnePlus, which announced earlier this week that it would update some of its phones to new versions of Android for four years and add another year of security updates. But if you look at where Samsung is right now with the Android 13 and One UI 5.0 update, it's become clear that the competition may never be able to really go toe to toe with the Korean giant.
40+ Galaxy devices updated to Android 13 before December kicked off
Why? Well, because in just a month and a half, Samsung has updated more than 40 Galaxy devices to Android 13. Let that sink in: more than 40 Galaxy devices are running the latest version of Android and Samsung's One UI, single-handedly beating every other Android manufacturer combined!
Samsung had been getting faster at releasing the latest version of Android for its flagships for some time, but that's the thing: before 2022, it was pretty much just the flagship phones that commanded all of Samsung's attention when it came to major updates. And we would only have a handful of devices updated the same year the new version of Android came out.
Now, Samsung simply does not seem to care if it's a mid-range phone or a flagship and is pretty much pushing out updates to various devices on a daily basis, regardless of where a device might stand on the pricing — or popularity — ladder. Case in point: phones like the Galaxy A22 5G and the Galaxy M33 5G have been updated, in addition to your usual suspects, such as the latest flagships.
Samsung is basically telling everyone, Chinese manufacturers included, what can be done if you care enough about after-sales software support and updates. Yes, the rollouts have been slow to expand globally for many devices, but even keeping that in mind, it doesn't make it any less impressive that Samsung has managed to bring the update to more than three dozen Galaxy devices in such a short span of time.
It shows that Samsung is trying its best to make the update situation better every chance it gets, and its lightning quick release of Android 13 and One UI 5.0 is its biggest step forward yet. And things should only get better from here, if Samsung's recent history with updates is anything to go by. By this time next year, maybe all eligible Galaxy devices will have received Android 14?
Maybe, maybe not, but one can hope, right?
