Galaxy S10 5G also demoted to quarterly updates
Samsung announced the Galaxy S10 series in February 2019. It launched four models — Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+, and Galaxy S10 5G. All of them were supposed to go on sale in March but the 5G model was delayed. The device eventually arrived in the South Korean market in early April. A wider release followed in May. As of May 2022, the Galaxy 10 5G is three years old. While Samsung promises at least four years of security updates to its phones launched in 2019 and beyond, the updates come less frequently the older a device gets. The non-5G Galaxy S10 trio have already been demoted to the quarterly update schedule from the monthly schedule. Their 5G-enabled sibling is also now following them there. These phones will cease to exist in Samsung’s software support agenda by mid-2023. All four Galaxy S10 models have already received their last major Android OS update, though. Debuted with Android 9 Pie, the devices have picked up the promised three Android version upgrades — Android 10, Android 11, and Android 12. They may still receive Samsung’s One UI 4.1.1, but Android 13 isn’t coming to them. You might remember that Samsung recently expanded its software support policy to offer up to four major Android version upgrades and five years of security updates. But this generosity is only applicable to flagships and select mid-range devices launched in 2021 and beyond. So those using a Galaxy S10 phone are out of luck. Perhaps it’s about time you upgrade to a newer model. While the devices will not abruptly stop working they will be missing out on the latest features. Less frequent security updates also make them more vulnerable to attacks.
Other Galaxy smartphones have also moved to a slower security update schedule
Along with the Galaxy S10 5G, Samsung has also demoted a few other Galaxy smartphones to a slower security update schedule (via). The Galaxy A41, Galaxy A51 5G, and Galaxy M01 have been dropped from quarterly to biannual updates, i.e. two updates in a year. Samsung has entirely dropped the Galaxy A6 and Galaxy J7 Duo from the list while the newly launched Galaxy M13 enters the list under the quarterly update schedule.
