Opinion
Opinion: Samsung makes its customer happy by giving 3 major Android upgrades while OnePlus just did the opposite
Nowadays, there are a lot of new smartphones available in the market, offering low to high-end specs and ranging from budget to flagship price. But how do you really choose to purchase a new smartphone and what should it really offer to you? That’s a big question and we’re here to answer it with a good example.
Every smartphone maker offers new hardware and after-sale software upgrade services with their new releases but do they really keep that promise? I know one company and its name are Samsung, as a regular user of its different devices, I’ve enjoyed being a customer of the smartphones made by Samsung and its after-sales services.
On the other hand, I recently noticed a report about a Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus’ that informs the users of its latest smartphone, OnePlus Nord lineup that they will get “only one major” Android upgrade.
In detail, OnePlus has confirmed that the Nord N10 5G and Nord N100 will only receive only one major update from Android 10 to Android 11 (OxygenOS 11). To be noted, these two phones come pre-installed with Android 10.
One thing is sure that this move is surely frustrating for most of the consumers of OnePlus.
Meanwhile, Samsung is committed to providing the up to date mobile experiences with the Galaxy devices and continue working to bring more secure and exciting new features to the devices already sold.
The South Korean tech giant provides two major Android OS upgrades to its budget phones and “three” major upgrades for its high-end smartphones including the Note, S, Fold/Flip, Tab S series, and select A series smartphones.
With its already impressive update policy, Samsung is extending the lifecycle of its smartphones and provide a simple and secure mobile experience that takes advantage of the various new features via OTA, as soon as possible.
For example, the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 series was announced with Android 10 out of the box and announced to get three OS upgrades starting with Android 11 (One UI 3) up to Android 13 (One UI 5).
“Samsung is committed to providing the latest Android OS upgrades until the hardware specifications allow us to provide the optimized mobile experience for our users.” – Said Samsung in an official statement
Adding to this, Samsung provides monthly Android security updates to its select smartphones for 2 years and 2 more years of quarterly security updates to keep secure all the Galaxy owners’ smartphones. Furthermore, Samsung even provides occasional software updates for Galaxy smartphones that have already completed its update tier.
On the matter of providing security updates, Samsung is one step forward compared to the stock Android because the Galaxy Z Fold 2 device has started receiving November 2020 security patch before three days of the starting of November.
And this time, Samsung has gone even further by rolling out December 2020 security patch for the Galaxy S20 series smartphones who are testing the upcoming Android 11 based One UI 3.0 as a beta.
Software support is a huge difference-maker for both the smartphone maker and the buyer and a crucial part of after-sale services. While monthly software update keeps the user’ data and privacy safe from different threats, major updates improve the overall device experience and performance with the latest features and enhancements.
What do you think of this the software update policy of Samsung and what does it matter to you, Let us know in the comments.
After One UI 5.1, we started hearing a lot of news, leaks, and rumors about the upcoming One UI 6. Recently, Samsung has also started releasing One UI 6.0 support for stock apps, starting with the Calculator app.
Looking at all this, we can expect that Samsung will provide this support to more apps in the future too. But the question is, why is Samsung providing One UI 6.0 support to its stocks apps before the official release? If you are thinking that by getting their support, you will get some new features in your apps, then it is not only the reason.
Samsung One UI 6.0 support can also bring new features for apps, but the main reason for this is something else. But what? The answer is that Samsung is going to release a new One UI update in the coming weeks or months and the company aims to make its stock apps compatible with that accordingly. Once the app is supported, the app will not stop working or get crash whenever the company releases that update for the smartphone.
A recent report revealed that Samsung’s stable Android 14 update will be available in October. This is the same time frame as last year’s UI rollout, with the latest Galaxy S lineup being the first to secure it. Meanwhile, beta activity is seeing an early start if everything goes as planned by the internals.
Still, for the time being, we can consider this information as a pinch of salt as the company has not yet announced any official timeline for One UI 6.0.
Samsung confirms One UI 6 and Good Lock features finding underway
Nowadays, smartphones are being heavily used for gaming and photography. Accordingly, phone makers are focussing more and more on upgrading the imaging capabilities and performance of chipsets. So why not, Samsung should now bring battery upgrade to Galaxy flagships.
Battery upgrade should be the next aim
The recently launched Galaxy S23 Ultra brings a high-profile 200-megapixel camera, allowing users to capture lossless shots, even when cropped. With great collaboration between hardware and software, the new Samsung flagships offer peace of mind to consumers, when it comes to battery life.
In addition to camera lovers, people prefer buying a smartphone, which offers great battery life without compromising features and power specifications. In the same way, Samsung is reportedly working, and there’s still room for improvements in flagships battery life.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra could come with a new battery technology inspired by electronic vehicles. The company is considering stacked battery technology for smartphones, which will reduce the size keeping the same mAh and enhanced lifespan.
Since the stacked battery tech could leave more gap inside the phone, Samsung might not think about increasing mAh on flagship phones. Instead, the company may use an additional vacant area for upgrading other hardware elements and better placement.
The S23 Ultra even defeated the years-old leader iPhone in terms of battery performance, thanks to the “Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy” processor. Exynos 2400 is reportedly coming to the S24 series in certain markets, which re-creates concern about the phone’s battery life and performance.
That said, Samsung should focus on increasing premium Galaxy phones’ battery life so users can use them longer with a single charge. 45W fast charging is doing quite well, just improvements to battery life would prove as cherry on the cake.
What do you think about it, do share your thoughts with us through the Tweet embedded below.
Vote here: https://t.co/tOfPTuWKX7
— Sammy Fans (@thesammyfans) May 5, 2023
Poll Results: May 12, 2023
We ran a poll that received 106 votes from our readers’ community. Among all, about 70 percent of readers voted in favor of a battery upgrade instead of the camera, while 23.6 percent want both upgrades together. Meanwhile, 6.6 percent of voters still want Samsung to focus on flagship camera upgrade.
Instead of Camera, Samsung should bring battery upgrade to flagships #Samsung
— Sammy Fans (@thesammyfans) May 5, 2023
Tech industry is currently facing a global downturn, forcing companies to shut down businesses in hopeless markets. Promotion no longer remains the only way to sell more smartphones as consumers start comparing products on different aspects; reliability, security and software support.
Samsung, unquestionably meets the demands of consumers, thanks to its 4+5 strategy, ensuring longer Android OS and security updates support. The company is the biggest Android seller in the world, and of course leads the market too, beating rivals like Apple.
Since the Samsung 4+5 strategy still lags behind Apple, when it comes to software support, it is record-breaking in the Android segment. As vendors stop including pre-built charging adapters to reduce e-waste, the EU also mandated longer software support so consumers can keep using a phone longer.
“At Samsung, you get not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 times Android OS updates. And 5 years is a long time, so your palm-sized pal will be in good hands with new regular security patches.”
Software updates play a key role in continuing great smartphone experiences, as well as the releases come with new features and optimization. Android is open source and gets packed with numerous flaws, Google patches them through security releases every month.
Accordingly, Samsung rolls out monthly patches to a large number of Galaxy devices, which ensures the most reliable system and user data protection. Android OS usually gets a new version in the second half of every year, bringing new useful features and life-saving tools to consumers.
Samsung, with its amazing One UI, dominated the Android market. The custom skin is neat, clean, and intuitive, ensuring smoother and more stunning experiences on Galaxy smartphones and tablets. Google introduces 1 each year, but Samsung utilizes it thrice (x.0/x.1/x.1.1), cool enough?
Until the second half of 2020, Samsung supplied two OS updates to all Galaxy devices. Later, the company raised the bar of software and reached up to 3, matching the Android maker. With the S22 launch, the Korean tech giant promised to bring up to 4 OS and 5 years of patches to select Galaxy models.