If you care about updates or software features, buy Samsung

Whether you love or hate the company, we can all agree that Samsung isn't perfect. It has too many mobile products on the market, and sometimes, things slip through the cracks and don't go according to plan. But even so, Samsung is undeniably the best Android smartphone manufacturer when it comes to supporting its products with firmware updates.

The more we think about Samsung in relationship with other Android smartphone makers, the more we realize that we could never recommend any Android smartphone brand other than Samsung. Because what good is powerful hardware if it isn't optimized?

What good is the hardware if it's relegated to history once support drops a couple of years after purchase? Sadly, in some cases, smartphone customers end up with expensive paperweights — assuming they don't exchange them one year later for a newer device.

Samsung must've asked itself just how much firmware updates should matter, and came up with an ambitious battle plan. Its latest efforts to support Galaxy mobile hardware with timely firmware updates are commendable, to say the least. Now the company offers four major Android OS upgrades to select smartphone models, and most other Galaxy smartphones and tablets get three major OS upgrades.

One UI 4.1 is now available for more than 100 million customers, and the number grows every day. At the same time, Samsung continues to beat even Google with its timely security patch releases. And it's not just flagship phones that get these updates regularly. Security patches roll out periodically for all Galaxy smartphone models that aren't older than four or five years old.

Now, we understand that some phones and regions are lagging behind others, and there are some inconsistencies with Samsung's firmware update schedule. For example, you will sometimes hear stories about Samsung updating mid-range phones in some regions before updating high-end phones in other markets. It's true. Samsung isn't perfect, and it's not always the most consistent OEM.

But in the world of Android updates, Samsung is unbeatable, warts and all. And any smartphone user that cares about security patches, new features, and timely firmware updates should enjoy all of these advantages as long as they buy at least a mid-range Samsung phone.

How important are firmware updates for you? Are you happy with the way things are going for you as a Samsung customer, as far as new updates go? Leave a comment below.

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