Galaxy S20, Note 20, Z Fold 2, and Z Flip 5G relegated to quarterly security updates

Damien Wilde | Apr 2 2024 - 1:47 am PT

The original Galaxy Z Flip 5G, Z Fold 2, Galaxy Note 20, and Galaxy S20 series have now been relegated from monthly to quarterly security patches per the devices’ promised update schedules.

Samsung has just released the firm’s regular monthly Security Bulletin for April 2024, which details bug fixes and security improvements for the most recent monthly OTA. This is likely the last regular patch that the Galaxy Z Flip 5G, Z Fold 2 Note 20, Note 20 Ultra, Galaxy S20, S20+, S20 Ultra, S20 FE, and S20 FE 5G will receive as according to Samsung’s public update tracker all of these devices are now only eligible for quarterly OTAs.

Current Models for Quarterly Security Updates³

Galaxy Z Flip 5G, Galaxy Z Fold2

Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20 5G, Galaxy S20+, Galaxy S20+ 5G, Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G, Galaxy S20 FE, Galaxy S20 FE 5G

Galaxy Note20, Galaxy Note20 5G, Galaxy Note20 Ultra, Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G

Moving forward, each of the devices mentioned will get up to 4 updates per year unless there is device or chipset-specific vulnerability that needs to be patched prior to this update schedule. This means that from today, the earliest that the Galaxy Z Flip 5G, Z Fold 2 Note 20, Note 20 Ultra, Galaxy S20, S20+, S20 Ultra, S20 FE, and S20 FE 5G will get another Android security patch is July 2024. However, this could change if a critical vulnerability or issue is found.

One interesting tidbit is that the Note 20 series should technically get a further 6 months of monthly patches before being added to the quarterly update schedule. It’s not clear if this is an error from Samsung or is intended at this stage. This would mean that the Note 20 series may not get the full 4 years of updates as originally set out at launch. The Korean firm may have jumped the gun and added the Note 20 to the quarterly lineup ahead of that upcoming change.

By April 2025, all 12 devices will no longer be officially supported by Samsung. That will conclude 4 the 4-year update promise made back at launch. All devices are currently able to update as far as One UI 5.0 which is based on Android 13.