What simply occurred? Anybody nonetheless utilizing Samsung Galaxy telephones between roughly 2014 and 2018 — of which there may very well be half a billion — ought to verify for firmware updates. The updates Samsung is pushing are minor however uncommon as a result of the affected fashions are far older than the oldest telephones that usually obtain safety patches.

This month, Samsung began sending out minor updates to Galaxy telephones which might be a number of years previous, which normally now not obtain assist, probably reaching a whole lot of thousands and thousands of customers. The affected fashions embrace the Galaxy S5 Neo (Vodafone’s model), Galaxy Alpha, Galaxy S6 sequence, and the Galaxy A7.

Galaxy S5 house owners ought to search for firmware model G903FXXU2BFG3 within the settings app. Galaxy S6 telephones obtain firmware model G92xFXXU6EVG1, the Galaxy Alpha will get model G850FXXU2CVH9, and the A7 receives A750FXXU5CVG1.

Samsung hasn’t supplied particular particulars on what the updates include or why it despatched them, however they seem to repair a GPS challenge. The replace for the A7 features a safety patch. Official updates for getting old {hardware} normally repair critical safety issues that might impression many customers, however Samsung hasn’t mentioned as a lot. Moreover, the official listing of the telephones nonetheless receiving safety updates would not attain again to the A7, S5, or S6.

Final yr, Samsung promised that new Galaxy telephones would obtain safety updates for not less than 4 years. The oldest fashions the corporate formally helps embrace all Galaxy S10, the Observe 10, and the A10 fashions from 2019.

For comparability, Apple lately launched a vital iOS safety replace for iPhone fashions stretching again to the 6s launched in 2015. Producers ought to preserve safety updates for as lots of their gadgets as potential since most prospects do not at all times improve to the most recent fashions.

Homeowners of latest Galaxy telephones ought to stay up for Android 13, which can come to numerous Android fashions later this yr. It is not clear but which Samsung fashions the brand new OS will assist, however it got here preinstalled on Google’s most up-to-date Pixel telephones. Apple can also be readying the following iteration of iOS for launch this yr, which helps all iPhone fashions again to the 2017 iPhone 8.