Samsung’s One UI is packed with features, offering a highly customized Android experience with numerous tweaks and add-ons. However, one crucial Android feature has been conspicuously absent from Galaxy devices for eight long years. We are talking about seamless updates, aka A/B system updates.
Seamless updates make software updates more convenient
Introduced in Android Nougat (Android 7) way back in 2016, seamless updates are one of Android’s more convenient innovations. The feature is designed to minimize downtime during software updates. Your phone installs updates in the background while you continue to use it. Once the installation is complete, you can restart the phone to seamlessly upgrade to the latest software, with little to no downtime. This is done by maintaining two system partitions (A/B).
When you download an update, it is installed on the secondary system partition (B) rather than the primary partition (A) currently in use. When you restart the device, it boots from that secondary partition running the latest software version. It now serves as the primary partition, while the previous primary partition becomes the secondary partition. The primary and secondary partitions are essentially switched upon reboot every time you install an update.
This method of software updates is safer too
A/B system updates have multiple benefits. For one, it reduces downtime as you don’t have to sit out when the device is installing the update. You continue to use your phone as usual. The restart after an update is slightly longer than a normal restart as the device has to optimize apps, but not anywhere close to what it takes for a regular, non-A/B system update. The total time taken to complete the update process may be similar though, as background installation is a bit slower.
If you look at the grand scheme of things, A/B system updates are a more convenient way to install software updates on your phone. And they are safer too. In case something goes wrong and the update isn’t installed properly, your device has a system partition running the older software version. You can safely revert to the previous version and reinstall the update. How cool is that?
So, what’s the catch, you might be wondering. Nothin really! The only downside of seamless updates is that they take up more internal storage on your phone. Since the device must maintain two fully developed and functional system partitions, more storage is required. It still isn’t a major problem and easily outweighs the benefits. More so when you consider that most smartphones today offer 128GB or more internal storage, with very few offering 64 gigabytes.
Only one Galaxy phone supports this feature
Despite all the advantages, Samsung has avoided seamless updates for the past eight years. The company did give users some hope by offering the feature on the Galaxy A55. Yes, the premium mid-range phone launched earlier this year supports A/B system updates. It became the first Samsung device to boast this convenience feature that Google added to Android back in 2016. The company was expected to offer the feature on more Galaxy devices, but not to be.
Newer models like the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6 do not support seamless updates. Why, though? Well, it remains a mystery. For reasons known only to Samsung’s software team, the latest foldables phones remain stuck with the traditional update method. Is it a technical hurdle? A compatibility issue? Or is Samsung just being Samsung, prioritizing other features it deems more important? We don’t know. If mid-range phones can support it, how difficult could it really be to roll it out across the board?
Samsung needs to bring seamless updates to more Galaxy phones
It’s definitely time for Samsung to finally bring seamless updates to Galaxy phones and close this gap in its otherwise stellar user experience. It shouldn’t wait until the feature becomes an embarrassing omission in the face of competition. Google is working on removing support for “non-A/B” updates on Android, leaving seamless updates as the only option for good. However, as Android expert Mishaal Rahman points out, Samsung could still devise a mechanism to avoid it.
While we hope it doesn’t, the company has shown little regard for seamless updates all this while. There’s every possibility that it will continue to do so until Google makes it mandatory. Or maybe Samsung was testing the waters with the Galaxy A55 and plans to bring A/B system updates to more Galaxy devices soon. It’s impossible to bring seamless updates to existing phones — devices must be shipped with two system partitions built into them during the ROM development. However, Samsung can definitely add it to future models. The Galaxy S25 series, anyone? Let’s hope for the best.
