The first Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event of 2024 revealed a lot of exciting information on the company’s future, including what fans can expect from the upcoming Galaxy S24 series. In addition to the expected spec upgrades, the company also announced its plan to support the S24 range of phones for an astounding seven years.
The news of Samsung’s decision to support the upcoming S24 series for seven years comes after 2023 saw Google announcing its plan to do the same for the Google Pixel 8. This has raised the question of whether other mobile developers will follow in Samsung and Google’s footsteps to increase the lifetime of mobile devices.
Here’s everything we know about Samsung’s decision to give the Galaxy S24 series frequent updates until 2031.
How Long Will Samsung Support the Galaxy S24 Series?
Samsung announced during the 17 January 2024 Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event that it will support the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S24 series for a total of seven years. This means that the Galaxy S24 will continue to get software updates until 2031 as part of the company’s mission for environmental stability.
The software updates the potential users of the Galaxy S24 series include security updates, major Android versions, and feature updates. The mobile phone developer was offering around four years of major Android version updates and approximately five years of security patches for prior installments in Samsung’s flagship series, indicating how much of an improvement this is.
According to the official Samsung event video, “The Galaxy S24 series was built to last even longer than the previous generations, with seven years of security updates and seven generations of OS updates.”
Samsung cites two reasons for its decision to increase how long Samsung is willing to support its flagship mobile devices. The first reason is to help users by ensuring their Galaxy devices last longer, and the second is to increase the number of recycled materials used to manufacture these phones,
How Does This Compare to Older Samsung Models?
Below is a table directly comparing how long previous entries in the Galaxy S series were eligible for Android software updates compared to the S24.
| Model | Software Update Eligibility |
| Galaxy S21 | 4 years |
| Galaxy S22 | 4 years |
| Galaxy S23 | 4 years |
| Galaxy S24 | 7 years |
As the table shows, Samsung is taking a big leap by increasing the number of years it will support the S24 by three years when compared to older models.
What This Means For the Future of Samsung
By supporting the S24 series for longer than previous phones the company developed, Samsung will effectively increase the lifetime of the Galaxy S24 mobile range. This will likely reduce the depreciation rate of all the S24 phones while ensuring that they retain more resale value.
Speaking of resale, the increased lifetime of the Galaxy S24 might result in fewer users feeling the need to trade in their phones for newer models. After all, if the series will be supported with software updates until 2031, it should work just as securely in, say, 2030, as it did when it was first bought.
