Upgrade Alert: Samsung is done updating the Galaxy S8 and S8+

Then they become electronic waste, just like my s7.
Rather than discarding, samsung should offer paid software upgrade.
 
I find interesting all these comments, as a company had to support their phones longer than X years, when almost 99.9% of other companies (not only Smartphones, ALL other too) support as much as two years and most of them are just tiny updates.

Only apple and tesla and in a good amount Samsung support big and small updates for so long! And apple just limits hardware fixes outside apple, there are no custom ROMs and for the S8 there are tons of first and third party parts as unofficial ROMs. As the hardware is so good, you'll have with the official ROM or any other unofficial ROM a phone for many years! My car (premium German brand) has SW issues, known and even on warranty the company demands money for the SW update because (the problem is not officially a defect, so they "don't have to"). My father's Peugeot (French brand) has an electrical issue and one of the first SW versions, has issues with the Bluetooth, a lot of blogs complain about the same issue and the company says only the newest versions have the fix. On his model they had to replace the entire system and as it is not a defect, they don't have to...

So?!?!

I have an S8 and only the battery is now needing a refresh, the SW (official) is pretty good (just tiny differences to my S21 Ultra) and I am pretty sure that even without security updates I am protected surfing the web or going to my bank. I am also pretty sure that at least 90% of the phones out there have far older SW and security updates and people still use them.

All in all: I am happy using Samsung, I am happy using apple (desktop) and I would be happy to buy a tesla if I had the money. All other companies are far worse (LG, Asus, Acer, Xiaomi, Huawei, Audi, BMW, ...)
 
Replacing a phone after 4 years seems super wasteful! I very much intend to keep my phone for more than 4 years if it keeps working. Just keep the battery between 50% and 80% charge for longer battery life. If security updates are not coming from the brand, I will rather switch brand than take another one from them. Good thing I never bought a Samsung smartphone before.
 
I feel with these sort of update policy comparisons between Apple and Android, it needs to be highlighted that significant parts of Android OS exist within the Play Store and continue to get updated well beyond the last OS update from the manufacturer.
That may very well be true and yes, I understand this, but there are parts of the system that Google can't touch. Low-level kernel-more drivers and of course, the kernel itself, can't be touched by Google. If a vulnerability is found, you're pretty much SOL unless the OEM issues an OTA update.

Theoretically speaking, since Android uses the Linux kernel, any vulnerability that's found in the Linux kernel itself can be used against Android depending upon what's been compiled into it.

Yes, I understand that many of us wouldn't be vulnerable to these kinds of attacks but if you're a CEO, Congressperson, or any other government employee or leader, you best bet that someone is going to be using these kinds of attacks against you.
 
I disagree. Security is something that must always be taken seriously no matter what.
Nobodys phone is getting exploited you need to calm down.

Software updates are the last thing I care about. They just introduce more bugs which then call for more updates and so on...
 
"Galaxy S8 owners should probably start looking for a newer phone"
- I wasn't aware that Techspot supported consumerism. The Galaxy S8 is still a great device hardware-wise. Why would Techspot suggest that we create even more needless e-waste by upgrading phones before it's actually necessary?

I read stuff like this and wonder if the whole world has gone crazy. Meanwhile, my old Motorola Moto G LTE+ is still working just fine and it came out in 2013. I just saw a Motorola Moto G Power at Costco for under $300CAD. Apparently, it's supposed to be an awesome phone for the price with battery life that puts most other phones to shame, regardless of price point (5000mAh battery). It got a pretty good review at Tom's:
Moto G Power (2021) review: The battery life champ
One of my personal purchasing commandments is:
"Thou shalt not pay more for thy phone than thy craptop."
My ASUS R5-3500U-based craptop was $750CAD. I'm not paying more than that for a goddamn phone. :laughing:
 
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Samsung: Don't worry customers. Even though the S8 isn't obsolete in terms of hardware and how well it performs, we just don't want you to continue to use the same old phone so we're no longer offering updates/security patches to your phone.

Customers: But....

Samsung: Yes, we understand your concerns. You just have to realize that we're not making money off you at the moment and that's just not acceptable. From a company standpoint, you're not valuable to us. You are welcome to come and purchase a new phone of the S10 or newer models. We understand that your phone is very capable and able to take any new updates that work just the same on the newer phones, but again we come around to the point that you're not valuable to us because you haven't purchased a new phone in the past 4 years.

Customers: But....

Samsung: We could keep updating the software for your phone, but we just don't make any money from it. So we understand your frustration here. We really do. You'd love to keep using your phone with all the latest and greatest security patches and updates, but that just won't be a viable option on our end. So, we can certainly keep supporting you once you spend more money to obtain a newer phone such as the S20 or even better yet, the S21. You could certainly look towards a S10, but in another year you'd be in the same boat as you are now. A spot where we just don't want to support your phone anymore and we need you to keep spending money on new products even though your older, yet fully functional hardware is still going strong without any problems.

(Yes, I have a S8. The phone still holds a good charge - without making calls or using it much the battery will go 2+ days before needing to be charged. The camera is good. Still has more than enough storage space for my needs. The only downside to Samsung - on any of their mobile devices - is that horse$hit Bixby software).
This is exactly why I don't worry about what phone I use until it's dead. My 8 year-old Motorola Moto-G is chugging along just fine. I'm not going to spend $800-$1000 every four years for a goddamn phone.

When I saw how "trendy" Samsung had become, I realised that it had just become the Android version of Apple and have stayed away at all costs. I own absolutely nothing made by Samsung (except possibly some RAM and SSDs branded as something else).
 
I feel 4 years is a good duration for the Android ecosystem. It still can't match iOS, but that is a high bar to meet in the first place. Android phones are too fragmented in terms of hardware and software, I feel its actually not easy to update without causing some issues.
It would be good, if the S8 wasn't so damn expensive. I just saw the specs of the Motorola Moto G Power. They look fantastic, and the phone costs less than $300CAD. That will be my next phone.
 
I disagree. Security is something that must always be taken seriously no matter what.
Security is important, so don't put anything on your phone that you don't want to be stolen or disclosed. That is the best security.
 
But considering how much you spent for that device, the company who made it should be forced to keep it up to date. And don't sit there and tell me that Samsung can't afford to do it because their last quarter's earnings report says otherwise. This really all comes down to greed and the upgrade treadmill that they want you to be forever on.

My thought on the subject is that if Apple can do it, why can't Samsung? There's no reason other than pure greed.
In a best case scenario, they would support these devices indefinitely. That isn't happening at the moment. So now we consider our options. Complaining for me isn't it.

Apple can afford longer support due to the little amount of devices they release. Can't say what that number is for Samsung, but they do release a lot of different devices in a year, many times more than Apple. That's just a lot to support. Granted, they could support their flagships a lot longer than they do. Fortunately, we have the other options, and if more people utilized them, not buying more devices, that might stir some movement on the support end. It could also cause phone prices to rise. Even aftermarket rom suppliers limit their length of support as well.
 
It would be good, if the S8 wasn't so damn expensive. I just saw the specs of the Motorola Moto G Power. They look fantastic, and the phone costs less than $300CAD. That will be my next phone.
2021 in the long run, I think is better than the 2020 version.
 
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