The latest and greatest from Samsung is the Galaxy Note 20 and the series, which jumped out of the box rocking Android 10, is expected to be first in line when the next major OS upgrade comes around. However, the South Korean tech giant confirmed that Android 11 will hit the Galaxy S20 first.
When the next Android version is ready for deployment, Samsung will push out the mobile OS, laced of course by the latest One UI skin, to the already widely circulating Galaxy S20 family. The company did not mention the reason for the move but it can be assumed that testing for the devices has been completed already so they are getting the new Android treatment ahead of the pack.
The firmware support, however, for both Galaxy models will eventually take on the same route, meaning the S20 and the Note 20 will be absorbing Android upgrades in near-identical timelines. To best illustrate, once Android 11 has been delivered to S20 users the same will be sent out to the Note 20 crowd shortly.
In the end, when the Galaxy S20 stops getting Android updates, the same is expected to happen with the Galaxy Note 20, according to PC Mag. This could be a bummer but Samsung fans can at least count on the company's promise that all major releases are assured of getting OS bumps by three generations.
Samsung's commitment will translate to all the recently issued Galaxy flagship devices having access to three Android version releases. In the case of both the S20 and Note 20 families, these handsets will get to taste Android 13 before the end of support kicks in.
This is a huge jump from the previous practice by Samsung, in which the OS support for released devices was limited to just one or two major updates. The planned improvement by the device maker should erase the missteps of the past when Galaxy users were left on their own after one or two years, and the same was true even for Samsung flagship users.
It appeared that moving forward, Samsung intends to make for a more satisfying Galaxy user experience and this will apply as well to the company's mid-range offerings. Android Police said the extended OS support will also benefit the Galaxy A series.
This will lead to the Galaxy A51 and Galaxy A71, in all variants, getting Android updates all the way to Android 13. On this, Samsung said hardware compatibility will determine devices' eligibility and it would seem that the Galaxy A series, which has gained traction as among Samsung's most popular handsets, fits the requirements.
Per the same report, Google has been making it easier for OEMs to catch up with the Android update cycle so more improvements are poised to be laid out in the years to come. The ultimate target is to eliminate the wide gap between stock Android and the skinned versions, which should become a reality soon.
