Seems like the Galaxy S10 series came to the end of the road when talking about updates support. Samsung announced discontinuing the S10 series updates support, as well as a few other older devices from 2019.
Samsung has updated its public security update page by removing some of its older phones. Among the removed smartphones were the Galaxy S10 series, the Galaxy A30, Galaxy A50, and Galaxy Z Flip. However, the Galaxy S10 5G and Galaxy S10 Lite have not been discontinued because those devices were launched later on after the Galaxy S10 series release.
This way Samsung begins to implement its new update strategy. Last year, the South Korean company announced it will be giving its phones five years of extensive security updates (same as Apple) and four years of major OS updates. Turns out that this new policy was only extended to the Galaxy S21 series and above, cutting off its older phones.
March 2023 security update was the last update for Galaxy S10 and other discontinued smartphones. This update rolled out as a vital importance security patch when Google’s Project Zero group revealed a critical exploit in Samsung’s Exynos chip. However, it was never reported that the Galaxy S10 series was affected by this exploit.
On a larger scale, Samsung’s decision to end updates support for the mentioned Galaxy devices is indicative of a shift in the tech industry towards shorter software cycles and more frequent device releases. This trend is not unique to Samsung, and it reflects a growing demand from users for up-to-date and advanced mobile technologies. However, it also creates a challenge for companies to maintain support for their legacy devices while continuing to develop new ones.
These upgrades not only provide the latest features but also address fundamental security issues such as malware and hacking attacks. One downside of software updates is that manufacturers stop supporting updates after a specific time frame passes. Samsung, for instance, kept releasing software updates for their products for about two years after their release, then discontinue support. This can lead to inactive devices that are vulnerable to various security attacks.
So extending device support to 5 years as Samsung has announced, it’s not just an important decision to keep your market share, but at the same time a challenging task.
