What you need to know
- Samsung plans to offer a whopping eight years of OS upgrades for enterprise versions of the Galaxy Tab Active 5.
- An executive for Samsung shared the move on LinkedIn, which will see the Galaxy Tab Active 5 get updates through 2032.
- The Galaxy Tab Active 5 was released earlier this year, and the standard version will only get five years of software support. Enterprise users will have three years of additional support.
Samsung launched the Galaxy Tab Active 5 earlier this year as a rugged tablet aimed to assist frontline workers. There are standard and enterprise versions of the tablet, though usually, there aren't many differences between the business and consumer models. However, this year, the enterprise edition of the Galaxy Tab Active 5 is confirmed to be getting three additional years of software support compared to the standard version. While the regular Galaxy Tab Active 5 will get five years of full OS upgrades, the enterprise version will get eight.
Andy Rottiers, an executive for Samsung Electronics, announced the company's plans in a post on LinkedIn. "2024 started with some good news for IT managers needing to service a large fleet of devices for a longer period," Rottiers wrote. "Samsung is introducing extended security patches and OS updates for their newly launched devices."
Rottiers confirmed that the enterprise Galaxy Tab Active 5 EE will be supported for eight years, meaning that the rugged tablet will get OS upgrades through 2032. Additionally, the Samsung Galaxy S24 EE and Galaxy XCover7 EE will each be supported for a seven-year window. These plans follow a trend by OEMs of pushing the boundaries of how long aging hardware can be supported. For example, both the Galaxy S24 series and the Google Pixel 8 lineup are promised to get seven years of full OS upgrades.
The long guarantee of software support makes sense for the enterprise market, where companies hope to deploy their technology for extended periods of time, usually spanning many years or even decades. Due to its rugged build, the Galaxy Tab Active 5 is specifically oriented at frontline workers. The tablet features Gorilla Glass 5, IP68 water and dust resistance, and a protective case that can withstand drops up to 1.8m.
We've reached a point where Apple, Google, Samsung, and others are competing to provide the longest stretches of software support possible. However, we still don't know what software support for something like the Galaxy Tab Active 5 will look like in eight years. Who knows whether the hardware will hold up in 2032 or if Galaxy Tab Active 5 devices will even be in service at that time? Still, it's good news for consumers and businesses that devices are nearing a decade of support for full OS upgrades.
