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As we all know, surfing the Internet with a device that no longer gets security updates is a sure recipe for getting hacked.

  • If I have a Samsung Android device, how do I find out whether it is still officially "security supported" (i.e., whether Samsung will push an OTA update when a security vulnerability is discovered) or not?

  • If I consider buying a new Samsung Android device, where can I look up how long it will be security supported by Samsung?

(I don't care about feature or OS version upgrades; this question is only about security updates. In addition, let's keep things simple and restrict this question to devices without a carrier lock - I know that carriers can delay updates, making matters even more complicated. I am looking for something like this for Samsung Android devices.)

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    lol... unless you have a Pixel/Nexus device, it is purely a crap shoot and there are no official, published guidelines... Just talking Samsung devices here it varies an incredible amount, usually by the cost of the device and the risk to security. The more expensive the device the longer you will get security updates, Galaxy S# devices seem to get them the longest, where the $100 prepaid models get few, if any, updates. If a major security hole is found, any device might get a random security update if not patching it would cost the company more money or reputation.
    – acejavelin
    Commented Jun 22, 2017 at 14:56
  • It's complex.. There is no clear policy. See this sammobile.com/2016/12/08/samsung-update-policy-improving
    – beeshyams
    Commented Jun 22, 2017 at 15:23
  • Must say that statement "surfing the Internet with a device that no longer gets security updates is a sure recipe for getting hacked" is wrong on so many levels, for example since year ago I was using device on jellybean and guess what I didn't get hacked or have any malware on it
    – Једноруки Крстивоје
    Commented Oct 17, 2017 at 15:12
  • @Једноруки Крстивоје: ...at least none that you know of. ;-) No, seriously, there is consensus among many security experts that installing security updates is the single most important thing to protect your device online. You don't need to believe me, ask the guys at security.stackexchange.com.
    – Heinzi
    Commented Oct 17, 2017 at 19:58
  • @Heinzi yes, it is important, but no necessarily, no kind of protection can prevent you from entering passwords, credit cards info where it shouldn't be entered, unless you use your own brain, also any malware can't work unnoticed. You have to use your brain while you are online, you can't eve be 100% protected by security level patches, I'm not saying anyone is stupid but you get what I'm trying to say.
    – Једноруки Крстивоје
    Commented Oct 17, 2017 at 20:23

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Unfortunately, like most Android phone manufacturers, Samsung does not give any guarantees about future security updates.

They do, however, have a web page telling you which models are currently scheduled for monthly or quarterly security updates:

Judging from the current (2017-10) content of the list, it appears that the duration and timeliness of security updates depends on the price of the phone: The 2015 flagship model S6 still gets monthly updates, whereas cheaper models, even those released in 2017, only receive quarterly updates.

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