Four years after they were first released, Samsung has officially ended software support for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. The company first released the Galaxy S8 series in March 2017. They were the first Samsung smartphones to feature a bezel-less design and an iris scanner.
Samsung Galaxy S8 Received Two Major OS Updates and Four Years of Security Updates
Samsung rolled out two major Android OS updates for the Galaxy S8 and S8+ since their launch in 2017. The phones launched with Android 7.0 Nougat and were officially updated to Android 9.0 Pie with One UI on top of it in February 2019. After that, Samsung has only been rolling out security updates for the devices.
Samsung promises four years of security updates for the Galaxy S8 series. Since that timeframe has lapsed, the company has dropped support for these devices and removed their mention from its Security Updates page, which 9to5Google first noticed.
After three years of monthly security updates, Samsung moved these devices to a quarterly security update schedule. Samsung recently rolled out the April 2021 security patch for the Galaxy S8 and S8+.
Samsung announced its software update policy earlier this year, where it promises three major OS updates and four years of security updates for its Galaxy devices. The company has also consistently managed to roll out monthly security patches for its flagship Galaxy devices ahead of Google Pixel devices.
Apart from Samsung, no other major Android OEM has detailed its software update policy or rolls out security updates for its devices as consistently as the Korean smartphone maker.
If you still own and use a Galaxy S8 or S8+, you can install LineageOS to run Android 11 on it.
Other Galaxy S8 Devices Will Continue to Recieve Security Updates
It is important to note that Samsung has only dropped support for the Galaxy S8 and S8+. The Galaxy S8 Active and Galaxy S8 Lite will continue to receive quarterly security updates from Samsung, though they are no longer eligible to receive new OS updates.
With four years of security updates, Samsung supports its older mid-range and flagship Galaxy devices longer than Google's Pixel devices. Google promises three years of features and security updates for Pixel phones. Samsung has also worked hard on improving the UI/UX of its skin and has come a long way since its Touchwiz days, with One UI being one of the best software skins for Android devices out there.