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Samsung finally drops Android update support for the Galaxy S8
- Samsung will no longer issue updates to the Galaxy S8.
- Up until this point, the 2017 flagship received quarterly updates from the company.
- Galaxy S8 Active and S8 Lite users will continue to receive updates.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 launched back in 2017. It was the flagship that would inform the company’s design language and philosophy for years to come. Until now, Samsung continued to issue reasonably regular updates to the device, keeping it relevant for legacy users. But that’s about to come to an end.
In its latest security updates bulletin, Samsung has officially dropped support for the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. Of course, this doesn’t mean that the phone is dead. However, using it may be a future security risk due to outdated software.
The move comes after Samsung downgraded the S8 to its quarterly device update roster a year ago. Although Samsung does have a solid device support policy, the Galaxy S8 is getting long in the tooth. It’s understandable, given the company’s swathe of devices, that support for much older phones comes to an end.
See also: The best high-end, mid-range, and entry-level Samsung smartphones
The four-year-old Galaxy S8 was pretty fresh in its day. It launched with a 5.8-inch AMOLED display, the Snapdragon 835 in the US, a single 12MP camera at the rear, and a 3,000mAh battery. Although it packed Android 7.0 Nougat at launch, updates have slowly dragged the phone up to Android 9.0 Pie.
There’s some good news for a few special S8 models. If you own a Galaxy S8 Active, you’ll continue to receive quarterly updates. Galaxy S8 Lite users, too, will continue to receive biannual security updates.
The final security update (h/t 9to5Google) available for the Galaxy S8 includes the April 2021 security patch.