Galaxy Note 8 updates slow down as Samsung allocates resources to support new hardware

The Galaxy Note series has been a great addition to Samsung's smartphone lineup, which is highlighted by its versatility when it comes to productivity. Unfortunately, the label was marred by a controversial battery issue which prompted a global recall of all Galaxy Note 7 units. Thankfully, the company's engineers learned a valuable lesson, when it released the Galaxy Note 8 in 2017. The testament to its quality shows as the device still receives monthly updates, but that would soon change.

Being three generations behind the latest Galaxy Note 20 series, the Galaxy Note 8 still enjoyed OTA patches regularly. However, with several newer flagship devices already available, Samsung could be optimising its resources to focus on new releases instead. 9to5Google points out that the it has been flagged already as it is counting its last days. Instead of stopping support outright, the South Korean electronics group plans to move to a quarterly schedule moving forward.

This means Galaxy Note 8 owners still have a year of updates to expect. Unlike other Android OEMs, Samsung has been known to still include even older devices when critical security patches are sent. In fact, it normally follows a three-year support timeline that gradually shifts to a quarterly affair just like it did for the model in question. This means the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy Note 9 will follow in 2021.

When it initially launched three years ago it shipped with Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box. A year after, it was updated to Android 8.0 Oreo. Finally, in 2019, the Galaxy Note 8 received Android 9.0 Pie with OneUI and has remained that way since then. Meanwhile, the latest flagship devices from Samsung are now running Android 11 with Android 12 to follow soon.

On the other hand, those who know their way around custom ROMS can actually update their Note 8s to Android 10 via LineageOS. Otherwise, Android 9.0 is the only operating system version officially supported by the manufacturer. In a related report, Google confirmed that the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL will receive one final update two months from now. Reports indicate it will bundle both November and December 2020 security patches into one OTA download.