There may be half a billion individuals still using Samsung Galaxy phones from around 2014 to 2018, and they should check for firmware updates as the Korean cell phone manufacturer announced to update millions of aging phone.
The updates Samsung is pushing are minor but unusual because the affected models are far older than the oldest phones that typically receive security patches.
Samsung hasn’t provided specific details on what the updates contain or why it sent them, but they appear to fix a GPS issue.
This month, Samsung started sending out minor updates to Galaxy phones that are several years old, which usually no longer receive support, possibly reaching hundreds of millions of users. The affected models include the Galaxy S5 Neo (Vodafone’s version), Galaxy Alpha, Galaxy S6 series, and the Galaxy A7.
Galaxy S5 owners should look for firmware version G903FXXU2BFG3 in the settings app. Galaxy S6 phones receive firmware version G92xFXXU6EVG1, the Galaxy Alpha gets version G850FXXU2CVH9, and the A7 receives A750FXXU5CVG1.
The update for the A7 includes a security patch. Official updates for aging hardware usually fix serious security problems that could impact many users, but Samsung hasn’t said as much. Furthermore, the official list of the phones still receiving security updates doesn’t reach back to the A7, S5, or S6.
Last year, Samsung promised that new Galaxy phones would receive security updates for at least four years. The oldest models the company officially supports include all Galaxy S10, the Note 10, and the A10 models from 2019.
