Samsung may update Galaxy S8 to Android 10 after all

Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus — (Image credit: Samsung)

After being widely criticized for not updating its Galaxy S8 to Android 10 while upgrading older phones, Samsung’s customer care told a user that the phone may get the update after all. But don’t get your hopes too high yet.

Samsung fan site SamMobile reports that a “disgruntled Galaxy S8 owner” called the company’s customer care line to ask why he was not getting an Android 10 update. The customer care rep told him that “the Android 10 update is planned for the device," which goes against what Samsung announced officially back in September.

If that’s the case, it will be great news. There is no technical reason that bars the phone from running the software — the 2017 Galaxy S8 should be perfectly capable of supporting Android 10.

In fact, Samsung is planning updates for lesser phones that were released at the same time as the S8. The Galaxy A7 shown in the update list below is one example. This demonstrates that Samsung’s not supporting Android 10 on the Galaxy S8 is not a technical decision but likely a marketing one. The Korean company has a long standing — and ridiculous — policy of only updating its flagship phones with two major versions of Android. This lack of support is precisely the main reason why Android is such a fragmented platform.

The only sure Samsung Android 10 updates

But don’t get your hopes too high. As SamMobile says, the Samsung customer care rep's reply may be a fluke. It would be weird to learn about a decision that would change company policy so drastically through some random rep instead of a full press release. Especially knowing that such a change would give Samsung a much needed reputation boost.

For now, these are the only phone officially getting the Android 10 update:

Galaxy S Line

Galaxy S10
Galaxy S10+
Galaxy S10e
Galaxy S9
Galaxy S9+

Galaxy Note Line

Galaxy Note 10
Galaxy Note 10+
Galaxy Note 9

Galaxy M Line

Galaxy M40
Galaxy M30
Galaxy M30s
Galaxy M20
Galaxy M10

Galaxy J Line

Galaxy J8
Galaxy J7 Duo
Galaxy J7 2018
Galaxy J6
Galaxy J6+
Galaxy J5 2018
Galaxy J4
Galaxy J4+
Galaxy J3 2018

Galaxy A Line

Galaxy A90 5G
Galaxy A80
Galaxy A70
Galaxy A60
Galaxy A50
Galaxy A40
Galaxy A30
Galaxy A30s
Galaxy A20
Galaxy A20e
Galaxy A10
Galaxy A10s
Galaxy A10e
Galaxy A9
Galaxy A9 Star Lite
Galaxy A9 Pro 2019
Galaxy A8
Galaxy A8 Star Lite
Galaxy A7
Galaxy A6
Galaxy A6+

And that’s it. Hopefully, Samsung will change this and include the S8. There’s no technical excuse not to have Android 10 on that phone, which is way more powerful than many of the phones in the lists above.

Also, we still don’t know when those phones will get Android 10, but Google recently announced that at least some will happen before the end of 2019.

Jesus Diaz founded the new Sploid for Gawker Media after seven years working at Gizmodo, where he helmed the lost-in-a-bar iPhone 4 story and wrote old angry man rants, among other things. He's a creative director, screenwriter, and producer at The Magic Sauce, and currently writes for Fast Company and Tom's Guide.