If the recent Galaxy A16 leak is to be believed, Samsung is reportedly increasing the duration of its updates on its cheaper smartphones.
The parallel came to me with the leak of the Galaxy A16. A very common entry-level smartphone, if there ever was one, this model presents, in its technical sheet published on the Internet, a new update policy.
One year longer than the legal duration
Its predecessor had 4 years of Android updates and 5 years of security updates. But everything changes from June 2025. With its new regulation 2023/1670, the European Union will force manufacturers to offer at least five years of updates after a device is put on the market.
In fact, we will never have less… but we can always have more! And if Samsung or Google boast about offering 7 years of updates on their high-end devices (and the Pixel 8a), Samsung seems to want to go further by exceeding European requirements on its call smartphones.
This would be the case of the Galaxy A16 5G which would therefore go to six years of Android and security updates, instead of the required five years.
Snowball effect, this model being an entry-level one, we cannot imagine that the rest of the range is not affected by this new policy.
In fact, the Galaxy A26, A36 and A56 that will be released next year should logically benefit from the same price, i.e. six years of updates. Enough to allow Samsung to rise well above the fray in these price segments, its competitors being already less good than it on this point.
