The Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ are over three years old now and April’s announcement from the mobile phone giant means owners should now start to think about an upgrade.
The Galaxy S9 and S9+ have benefitted from monthly security updates since their launch in 2018. However, Samsung followed the latest security patch with an announcement that in future, the two Android devices will be demoted to quarterly refreshes.
What this means for Galaxy S9 users
Most Samsung smartphones are protected by four years of security updates from launch. The Galaxy S9 and S9+ received the April 2021 update and so should now be scheduled for the next patch in July. That cycle should then continue until March 2022 when a downgrade is inevitable.
The news means that your Galaxy S9 smartphones will continue to be relatively protected, but not quite as much as newer devices. The more time that passes between updates, the more exposed your phone is to the risk of problems.
Security updates play an important role in performance, security and privacy. Dozens of security flaws are identified in Android operating systems every month, so a reduction in the frequency of updates does bring risks for users.
What about Galaxy S8 owners?
Owners of a Samsung Galaxy S8 or an S8 Note will already be familiar with quarterly updates, as the models were downgraded in the refresh cycle in May 2020. The Galaxy S8 series is likely to fall further down the security patch schedule next year when devices in the range will move to biannual updates.
A good time to upgrade your Galaxy S9 or S8?
To maintain your Galaxy S9, S9+, S8 or S8 Note to optimal security refreshes and measures, now may be a good time to start thinking about switching to something newer.
The Samsung Galaxy S10 was launched in February 2019 and continues on its monthly security update cycle for plenty of time yet. For something even fresher, the Samsung Galaxy S20 is the current flagship and was released in March last year, running Android 10.
Find the best mobile phone deal for you using our online price comparison tool.