Samsung is one of the leading smartphone manufacturers around the globe, and in recent years they have rightly defined the word flagship. Their flagship S series and Note series devices speak for themselves. The company has been regularly pushing out OS updates and security updates too. Last year Samsung Galaxy S10 and Note 10 devices received the Android 10 update sooner than any of their predecessors. This shows how hard Samsung is pushing themselves to deliver the best to its customers, as soon as possible.
Even this year released Samsung Galaxy S20 devices have followed on S10’s footsteps and started receiving the update as the Android 11 is now released. However, despite maintaining the software side for their latest devices, the company downright just ignores the older devices, once their two-year quota is done.
Is my Galaxy S9, S9+, Note 9 going to be updated to Android 11 (One UI 3.0)?
No, Samsung Galaxy S9, S9+ and Note 9 smartphones have exhausted their two-major updates quota, so these devices will not get the Android 11 update based on One UI 3.0 but will continue to receive security updates. It should be noted that Samsung has recently confirmed that starting with the Galaxy S10 lineup, all upcoming devices are eligible for three generations of Android OS updates. But this policy is not valid for old Galaxy Note 9 and S9 lineup.
Back 2018, we had Samsung Galaxy S9, S9 Plus and Galaxy Note 9 devices and both of them received the Android 10 update released a few months ago, but that’s it for them. The Android 10 update was the second Android OS version update for the S9 and Note 9 and Samsung has a policy of pushing out updates for only two major Android updates. We have seen in Android 10 based One UI 2.0 release that Samsung S8 and Note 8 devices were left out. Same may be the case this time around too, for the S9 and Note 9 devices.
The final version of Android 11 has now arrived into the market, and everyone is talking about which OEM will be the one to first develop their stable version of Android 11.
As mentioned earlier Samsung pulled the plug on S8 and Note 8 after pushing out two major Android updates in the form of Oreo and Pie. Samsung is very strict about their update policy and even though many anticipated an Android 10 update for S8 and Note 8 devices, that did not transform into reality. Now as for the S9 duo and Note 9, we know that they have already received two major updates in the form One UI 1.0 and 2.0. So the South Korean tech giant will pull the plug here on these devices when it comes to Samsung One UI 3.0 based Android 11 update.
Why they won’t receive the Android 11 update?
It is not that these 2018 flagships don’t have the hardware to run Android 11, it’s just that another Android update goes completely against Samsung’s old update policy of two major updates. However, one thing to note here is that even though these devices won’t receive the Android 11 update, it will continue to receive security patches and maintenance updates regularly for probably one more year.
Is there any chance to get an unofficial Android 11 update?
It is too soon to say for certain but when a company pulls the plug on Android updates for a phone, XDA developers pull of miracles by developing unofficial stable ROMs for these outdated phones. Not all the custom ROMs can be considered to be best though, as many of them come with certain bugs and issues. So XDA developers may eventually hold the answer for Samsung S9, S9+ and Note 9 in terms of Android 11. Also, after releasing source codes of Android 11 to AOSP, popular LineageOS team has confirmed that they will soon make Android 11 Custom ROM which will probably be called LineageOS 18.
