Request for atleast a little One UI Update on Older Flagship Models

[AsuraThaGoat]

just want to say how much I appreciate the Galaxy lineup and the way One UI has grown over the years. The software keeps getting smoother, smarter, and more user-friendly it really makes Galaxy phones stand out.

As a long-time Galaxy fan, I’ve noticed how even entry-level models like the Galaxy A05 are already enjoying One UI 7, which is amazing progress. It made me think about some of the older flagship devices, like the Galaxy S9 up to the S21. These phones were ahead of their time in hardware and performance, and many of them still run beautifully today.

It feels like a missed opportunity that they’re locked on older One UI versions. With their powerful hardware, they could definitely handle more of the modern UI features. Updating them would not only give fans a fresh experience, but also highlight how much Samsung values the longevity of its flagship devices.

Even if it’s not a full feature set, just extending a few One UI improvements would mean a lot to us fans who still love and use these classics.

[arianwen27]

The main reason behind it is kinda this. When a phone comes out, samsung says how many years of updates it will get. So you can sorta work out the last one ui update it will get before it's even out.

While yes they could probably run it fine, samsung set a date where updates stop. Doing updates past that time would cost them money without making any sales and go against what they promised.

To try and put it another way. Say there's 2 phones. Phone 1 costs £100 and gets 1 year of updates. Phone 2 costs £300 and gets 3 years of updates. The extra updates are a selling point and the extra cost goes into paying people to keep making them.

If phone 1 got updates after 1 year, owners would be surprised and happy. But samsung wouldn't gain anything, they'd lose money doing it. Owners of phone 2 would be mad because they paid more, thinking phone 1's updates would stop earlier than they wanted.

While I can't endorse this, some people with technical skills sometimes make their own versions of android with their own updates specifically for unsupported and older phones. It voids all warranty, will break all knox and payment features and can probably brick the phone. But it's a thing that I have to say exists.

As for my thoughts, while I'd love if every phone kept getting updates, I do see the commercial side on why they do what they do. The norm used to be 2 years of updates. These days it's moving to 6 and 7. So a modern phone would last way into the future. But devices like the s9 and s21 are from the 2 year eara. (Or something short like that)

There is something to sorta help. Any android 10 or higher phone gets google play system updates. Google themselves can add few features and keep things updated. Yes it isn't new one ui but it's something

[AsuraThaGoat]

Yeah, I totally get what you’re saying it makes sense why Samsung does it that way. I just kinda regret going with the Snapdragon version of my Galaxy S9+ though. The Exynos ones at least have ports and custom ROMs floating around, but Snapdragon is so locked down that I can’t really try anything new on it.

It’s a little frustrating because the S9+ is still such a solid phone even now, and it feels like it has so much more potential if it wasn’t stuck on the old software. Still love it though — honestly one of my favorite Galaxy designs ever, apart from the S10.

[Joeeye]

The S21 series do have OneUI 7. It is the last planned OS update for them though.

[AsuraThaGoat]

True well I meant like those old flagships stuck on the old ui such as the s10 and so forth 

[Sonora]

Your explanation that Samsung loses money by supporting older flagships is overturned by Apple.

Apple will release iOS 26 on September 15th to all of its iPhones from 2019 to date, there is no speculation as to which phones will receive the update, Apple has officially published the list on its website, the iPhone 11, released in 2019, is on the list.

https://www.apple.com/in/os/ios/

 

[Joeeye]

Well Samsung offered 3 years during those years which was more than the 2 years Google and other manufacturers were offering. So comparatively, Samsung were being very generous already. And to be frank, those older devices don't really cut it with today's software in many cases. I still have my S8+ and Note 10+ 5G and whilst perfectly usable devices for ordinary tasks like web browsing and some calling, chat and simple system functions, they really can't cut it playing just the standard fare android game today. It's pointless bringing them up to date on the latest versions which they'd clearly lag behind. Besides that, nothing new would be of any real benefit to them.

[arianwen27]

Apple do things differently. They cost a ton more because they have really long update support and are generally high end devices.

If samsung only sold S series devices, then yeah they wouldn't lose money adding an extra year or two.

But with the A series, the profit margins on some have to be quite narrow.

If they started adding extra years to the S series, the A series would probably look worse and the users might be a bit annoyed they aren't getting the same treatment

[Sonora]

Your explanation is also invalidated by the fact that Samsung continues to produce the A, F, M series, phones for which it must also provide software support for at least 5 years, as required by the EU customer law

[Sonora]

I saw S8+ and S9+ running OneUI 7, more fluid than S23 or S22, so if enthusiast can do that, Samsung can do better