Samsung Galaxy S8 / S8+ will only get quarterly security updates

Tuesday, 05 May 2020 at 05:31

Samsung usually only releases two major Android operating system updates for its smartphones. In addition, it maintains three years of monthly security updates. The Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ launched with Android 7 (Nougat) in March 2017. These smartphones have gotten the Android 8 (Oreo) and Android 9 (Pie) updates. With this, it has gotten two major updates and will not be getting the Android 10 update. Furthermore, these smartphones have been around for three years. This means that they have also exceeded their limit for monthly security updates.

Now the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ will only get quarterly periodic updates. So far, Samsung has been providing monthly security updates for these phones. They just received an update last month that brought the April 2020 security patch. From now on, these smartphones will only get a security update once a quarter. Furthermore, the updates will not bring any new features. As a reminder, here is the spec sheet for the Galaxy S8 and S8+

Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ specifications

S8 – 5.8-inch Quad HD+ (2960 × 1440 pixels) Super AMOLED Infinity display with 570ppi, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection
S8+ – 6.2-inch Quad HD+ (2960 × 1440 pixels) Super AMOLED Infinity display with 529ppi, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection
Octa-Core Samsung Exynos 9 Series 8895 processor with Mali-G71 MP20 GPU
4GB LPDDR4 RAM, 64GB storage (UFS 2.1), expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD
Android 7.0 (Nougat)
Hybrid Dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD)
12MP Dual Pixel rear camera with LED Flash, f/1.7 aperture, 1/2.55″ sensor size, OIS, 1.4µm pixel size
8MP auto focus front-facing camera with f/1.7 aperture, 1/3.6″ sensor size, 1.22µm pixel size, 80-degree wide-angle lens
Water and dust resistant (IP68)
Ultra High Quality Audio Playback – PCM: Up to 32 bits; DSD: DSD64/128
Sensors – Accelerometer, Barometer, Fingerprint Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Hall Sensor, Heart Rate Sensor, Proximity Sensor, RGB Light Sensor, Iris Sensor, Pressure Sensor
S8 – Dimensions: 148.9 x 68.1 x 8.0mm; Weight: 152g
S8+ – Dimensions: 159.5 x 73.4 x 8.1mm; Weight: 173g
4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac (2.4/5GHz), VHT80 MU-MIMO, Bluetooth v 5.0 (LE up to 2Mbps), GPS with GLONASS, USB 3.1, NFC, MST
S8 – 3000mAh battery with fast Charging both on wired and wireless (WPC and PMA) charging
S8+ – 3500mAh battery with fast Charging both on wired and wireless (WPC and PMA) charging