Even if the amount is the same, it varies from country to country. Galaxy Support Disparity

　Smartphone brand "Galaxy" developed by South Korea Samsung. It is a smartphone brand with the top share in the world, and is one of the smartphone brands that is highly evaluated around the world for its performance, design, and easy-to-use UI and functions. The support system is also generous, and some devices guarantee the most major Android updates among manufacturers that sell Android devices. Many devices are guaranteed at least two years of security updates, with eligible devices receiving updates once a month.

　However, this is a story limited to overseas version terminals. The story is completely different in Japan, and this applies not only to the Galaxy A series but also to the flagship model. In this article, we will look at the disparity in domestic and overseas support for the Galaxy series.

Index 

• 1 Security update gap
• 2 Android update speed
• 3 Disparities in available services
• 4 Summary

Security update gap

　Galaxy has long sold long-term support for security updates. Surprisingly, even the Galaxy S9 series, which was released in 2018 and has already been on sale for four years, has the latest security patch delivered " overseas " in March 2022. Regarding the Galaxy S9 series, the end of security patch updates was officially announced in April 2022. It seems unlikely that the domestic version of the Galaxy S9 will receive an update in the future.

　The Samsung Mobile security page has the following statement:

Select devices launched in 2019 and later will support security updates for a minimum of four years after global launch. Also, some of the latest devices get up to five years of security updates.

　The following table shows the number of global, docomo, and au versions updated in 2021 for flagship terminals released in Japan from 2018 to 2020.

　As you can see, even the flagship model has a big difference compared to the global version terminal. In particular, regarding the Galaxy S10 series, which received the latest Android 12 update over the last month, the global version has been updated 14 times, while the domestic version is about 2 or 3 times .

　As mentioned above, security updates are delivered once a month to the overseas model of Galaxy. However, the domestic version is not distributed at a fixed period, and the frequency varies depending on the carrier. Moreover, it is not uncommon for months to pass since the latest security patch delivery. According to the author's research, although security updates are distributed with high frequency immediately after the release, about a year after the release, the difference with overseas gradually comes out.

　On the other hand, in the Galaxy A series, the results are as follows. In the low-priced A series, the global version does not have the same support system as the S series, so there was not much difference in the number of updates. In addition, the Galaxy A20/A21 is excluded from the comparison because the specifications do not match the global version.

Android update speed

　In the domestic version of Galaxy, there is a disparity in distribution of Android major updates compared to overseas. That is the speed of update delivery.

　Galaxy sold by docomo and au in Japan is customized for each carrier. Therefore, the update will be distributed for the first time after tuning the update for the domestic version terminal.

　For example, the Galaxy S21 series will be available overseas in December 2021 at the earliest. On the other hand, the domestic version will be delivered more than a month later, with the au version terminal from January 25th and the docomo version from February 9th.

　The Galaxy S10 previously sold by Rakuten Mobile has not been updated for about 6 months since its release in December 2019 . In January 2020, Android 10 was delivered to the docomo version Galaxy S10, but there were cases where the update was abandoned, such as the Rakuten version being finally delivered on June 25 of the same year.

　Hardware adjustments are unavoidable, but if the time it takes to distribute updates compared to other countries is spent on unnecessary things such as optimizing carrier apps, I feel that it is nothing but self-satisfaction for carriers. .

Disparities in available services

　There are restrictions on the apps and services that can be used on domestic terminals. A typical example is the " Good Lock " module that allows you to customize the Galaxy's UI in detail .

　"Good Lock" has been highly evaluated by many users because it allows you to customize the terminal very finely by introducing it. In many countries, related apps are distributed through the Galaxy Store, but in Japan it is not possible to introduce them from the Galaxy Store.

　Since Japan is not included in Good Lock's supported countries, domestic users who want to install Good Lock must sideload it from an unofficial APK file download site. Unofficial APK distribution sites have the risk of being contaminated with viruses and malware , and it is extremely dangerous for general users to introduce them.

　The same applies to the original payment service "Samsung Pay". This service is a payment service with an epoch-making function that allows payments to be made even with a magnetic stripe card reader that does not support NFC payments. However, this is also not available on domestic terminals. There are still many member stores that do not support touch payment. It is surprising that payments can be made by holding the terminal over the magnetic stripe.

　Increasing the number of functions that users can use is a great benefit for users, and should also increase the appeal point for manufacturers, but it is difficult to understand why the use is restricted.

summary

　The number of Galaxy users in Japan is increasing due to the popularization of the Galaxy Z series and collaboration with global artists and fashion brands such as BTS and Thom Browne. Opening many functions and expanding support in Japan will be a great advantage for users to purchase Galaxy, and there should be no disadvantages for Samsung Japan.

　Samsung has expanded post-purchase support especially for flagship devices in recent years. However, it is unacceptable that there is such a disparity in the frequency of updates and available services, even though we are paying about the same, if not slightly higher, device costs as users in other countries.

　I would like carriers that distribute updates to provide "equal" services by increasing the frequency of security updates rather than updating unnecessary functions such as docomo pictograms.