The Samsung Galaxy S25 could take the hassle out of Android updates

Samsung Galaxy S24 hands on handheld front straight

The Samsung Galaxy S24 (Image credit: Future | Roland Moore-Colyer)

If you own a Samsung Galaxy phone then you’re probably familiar with the downtime involved in Android updates, but if you’ve used other Android phones then you’re likely aware that it doesn’t need to be like that. Now though, it seems Samsung is finally embracing the seamless updates feature that has been possible on other Androids for years.

SamMobile and @MishaalRahman have spotted that the newly released Samsung Galaxy A55 installs its first update seamlessly, meaning that it does so in the background on a partition. You still need to restart the phone to apply the update, but you don’t need to wait while the update is installed, meaning that the phone remains useable throughout the update process.

It’s a great feature and it’s one that Samsung has so far been oddly reluctant to offer, as this is the first Samsung phone to support seamless updates, despite Google launching the feature back in 2016.

An old feature for new phones

We’d think that this is a sign that all future Samsung phones will also offer seamless updates, since it would be odd for the company to limit this just to the Galaxy A55, but unfortunately current Samsung phones – including flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S24 series – probably won’t get seamless updates.

That’s because this feature typically needs to be configured before a device ships – so in other words, it’s unlikely that Samsung will be able to deliver a software update that enables seamless updates.

However, we’d think the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S25, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, and most or all other upcoming Samsung phones will offer seamless updates. So that’s one more thing to look forward to with your next phone upgrade.

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James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.