Samsung’s update decision is bad news for millions of Galaxy S24 and S23 owners

Samsung and Google are racing to catch up with the iPhone, at least when it comes to the security and privacy of the vast number of Android users around the world. Google’s big boost comes with Android 15 with a slew of new updates, while Samsung may be doing more by limiting sideloading of apps, enforcing maximum limits by default, and promoting its Knox ecosystem as an alternative to Apple’s equivalent.

But one area where the gap between Samsung and the iPhone remains as wide as ever is security updates. While Android sets a monthly cycle unlike Apple, users must wait for specific updates by model, region, and carrier, and not everyone receives monthly updates, with many on a quarterly cycle or worse.

ForbesWhy You Should Buy a New Microsoft Windows PC in 2025TO Zach Doffman

This is another area where Google is offering a fix. Google explains that with seamless updating, “OTA updates can occur while the system is running without interrupting the user. Users can continue to use their devices during OTA… After the update, the reboot takes no longer than a normal reboot.”

But not for Samsung users. While earlier this year it seemed like Samsung had finally implemented this lighter, simpler update system and even solved the “everything, everywhere, at once” problem solved by Apple, that didn’t happen. How Android authority explains: “Google has been offering seamless updates to Android for some time, significantly speeding up the system update process. Unfortunately, Samsung’s flagship phones do not support this option.”

As I reported in March, it looks like this issue has finally been resolved, initially for A55 device owners. But now it seems that it was just a joke. Since then there has been nothing more. And for owners of the latest S24 and S23 flagships, the bad news is that “the Galaxy S25 series (will) finally be able to offer seamless updates.” Android authority reports based on new leak about X.

The problem, the website says, is that while “these won’t be the first Samsung phones to offer seamless updates, as the Galaxy A55 5G reportedly offered the feature earlier this year, they will be the first flagship Galaxy phones with this function.” ” This is a serious problem for today’s owners of expensive phones.

“Old method used on Galaxy S24 line,” says Phone Arena“This is a hard system reset that requires a full reboot of the device, and this process may take several minutes. During this time, new software is installed on the phone, and when everything is ready, the device reboots with the new software installed. This method is considered less effective and more disruptive to the user.”

Clearly this has not been confirmed, but what we do It is known that smooth or any regular update in any form remains a critically missing feature for Samsung owners. To make matters worse, Google is stretching its muscle when it comes to its own control over hardware and software with Pixels, something Samsung can’t match as long as it remains dependent on the broader Android ecosystem.

ForbesReboot iPhone: New Warning: Hackers Target Apple UsersTO Zach Doffman

And that’s why Samsung users remain on hold and watch for Android 15, even though the long-awaited One UI 7 could arrive in just a few days, at least in beta form. Another current issue for some Samsung users is a critical Qualcomm vulnerability that may or may not be fixed in this month’s security release.

As I’ve noted before, Samsung phones can match Apple phones in almost every area and are brilliant at tightening up the security and privacy of their devices, but this update anomaly needs to be fixed. Until then, Apple has an advantage.

I asked Samsung for confirmation of these latest update leaks.