We can safely crown Samsung as the undisputed leader in the timely rollout of Android updates. All Samsung flagships and even midrange and budget phones got the latest updates faster than any other company, just behind Google.
The S23 series is on the latest March security patch, and this patch came out faster than Google’s Pixel feature drop. Before the first week of March, the entire S20, S21, S22, and S23 lineup was on the latest March security patch and One UI 5.1 update. This is an incredible update speed, and other brands have a lot of catch-ups to do in this regard.
Samsung’s frequency and also quality of updates are perfect. We rarely see updates ruining Samsung phones or making them slower in 2023.
Google is gearing up to announce the Android 14 update on 10th May officially, and One UI beta rollouts will begin shortly after. Following the previous track records will deliver the updates to all compatible phones much faster than the competition.
Samsung Android 14 Release Date
We already have the developer preview for Android 14, which adds some new useful features. It’s a minor quality-of-life update with no new significant features.
Once the official announcement wraps up on May 10 at Google I/O 2023, Samsung’s official developers will begin testing the software internally. In what’s known as the Alpha stage, developers fine-tune the OS and iron out experience-breaking significant bugs.
After about two months of designing the OS and writing code for Android 14 from the ground up, One UI 6 will enter the Beta testing phase in around August 2023.
Many people have already tried the developer preview of Android 14 in February and March. Android 14 from Google will enter the Beta phase in April (before the announcement) or sometime in May.
If we judge from Google’s plans for Android 14, then the official Android 14 AOSP and Pixel UI should reach acceptable platform stability by July 2023. We’ll see an official and stable rollout in August 2023.
Beta Program
Samsung hasn’t joined the Android 14 developer beta program yet, so even Samsung Insiders cannot expect any Beta versions on their phones soon. The testing will begin around August.
The latest S23 and one-year-old S22 lineup will be among the first to receive the significant Android 14 update. The S21 series still has two more major updates left, so it’ll receive Android 14 and also Android 15.
The S20 series will, unfortunately, get only security patches, and One UI 6 will not be launched for the series officially since only three prior years of updates were promised for the phones. Things are a bit murky about the S20 FE 5G, though.
If Samsung keeps up the excellent track record, we’ll see most mid-range and flagship Samsung phones get the Android 14 update before November 2023. Samsung’s promise of four major updaters is better than Google’s three.
Features
The new features we see on the Android 14 Developer Preview will mostly make it to the Pixels first. Samsung can pick and choose which ones they want, but all of them are pretty useful.
Since it’s just a developer preview, there’s a chance that Google will announce more features at the launch event. Moreover, Samsung could add customization, multitasking, and accessibility features for One UI 6.
There are several rumors of Samsung changing the UI/ UX of their first-party apps and enhancing the animations even further with upcoming updates.
We’ll briefly mention the features of the Android 14 developer preview. A small one is the predictive back gesture. You’ll see a small preview of which app or page you’re going back to when you swipe for the back gesture.
The Material You color palette gets even better, with Android 14 adding more basic color options in the wallpapers and styles section.
Android 14 also makes it easier to find and delete carrier-installed bloatware. Debloating an Android phone makes it much faster since third-party bloatware apps unnecessarily run in the background, take up power, and collect user data.
With Android 14, you can also see the apps running in the background without your permission. Google’s fast pairing works better too. You’ll see a warning when you install apps built for Android 8.1 or lower.
The battery-saver UI sees a visual revamp, and you can also see your screen time in the battery section. There’s a new UI for the security and privacy section as well.
Furthermore, you can individually choose which photos you want your apps to access, and you don’t have to grant them access to your entire photo/ video gallery.
There’s a new UI for sharing data with others and better background task optimization. This will give you better RAM management and battery life. There’s also better app compatibility with the app cloning feature, and it’s more functional now.
Samsung Android 14 Eligible devices
Samsung didn’t officially announce a compatibility list for Android 14, but we can draw predictions based on past trends. We can assume the S20 lineup will only get security patches since the three-year tenure for that series is up.
The lists below are speculative and will vary depending on your region and carrier.
Galaxy S series phones that’ll likely get Android 14:
- Samsung Galaxy S21 lineup.
- Samsung Galaxy S22 lineup.
- Samsung Galaxy S23 lineup.
- Samsung Galaxy S21 FE.
Galaxy A series phones that’ll likely get Android 14:
- Samsung Galaxy A72.
- Samsung Galaxy A73.
- Samsung Galaxy A52.
- Samsung Galaxy A52S 5G.
- Samsung Galaxy A52 5G.
- Samsung Galaxy A53.
- Samsung Galaxy A54.
- Samsung Galaxy A34.
- Samsung Galaxy A23.
- Samsung Galaxy A14.
- Samsung Galaxy A13.
- Samsung Galaxy A04S.
Galaxy M series phones that’ll likely get Android 14:
- Samsung Galaxy M53.
- Samsung Galaxy M33.
- Samsung Galaxy M23.
Galaxy tablets that’ll likely get Android 14:
- Tab S8 series.
- Tab S7 FE.
A few Galaxy F series phones will also receive Android 14, but we are unsure which ones. It’s also unclear whether or not the S20 FE 5G (with the Snapdragon 865) will receive Android 14.
We’ll update you if there’s anything more about Android 14 on Samsung phones, and we’ll keep tabs on beta versions or if there’s an official compatibility list.
