The Galaxy A52 and Galaxy A52s were released the same year, running the same version of Android, i.e., Android 11. They were both offered a maximum of three major OS upgrades and four years of security patches, guaranteed. In recent months, they have both received Android 14, which is their last major update.
Galaxy A52s users may have recently heard about the fact that the less powerful sibling, i.e., the Galaxy A52, will become unsafe to use, relatively speaking, about a year from now. Officially, according to Samsung's official timeline, the Galaxy A52 will no longer be guaranteed to receive any security patches starting with March 2025.
Sadly for Galaxy A52s users, they will follow suit. But the good news is that the Galaxy A52s should, in theory, benefit from one or two extra security patches next year before it joins the A52 in retirement.
Galaxy A52s should be patched at least until Q3 2025
Even though both the Galaxy A52 and A52s went on sale the same year, the Galaxy A52s was launched roughly six months after the Galaxy A52. Therefore, the Galaxy A52s will reach end-of-life later than the A52.
While Samsung will likely stop updating the Galaxy A52 in March 2025, the Galaxy A52s is scheduled to reach end-of-life in September 2025. In theory, that should give Samsung enough time to release at least one extra security patch for the Galaxy A52s compared to the A52.
Once the Galaxy A52s reaches end-of-life, there's no guarantee it will ever receive any new updates. Samsung has rarely released security patches for very old phones. It went back to updating unsupported phones only when it deemed it truly necessary for serious security concerns.
But officially, and barring any unusual events, the Galaxy A52s should no longer receive any support after Q3 2025. And if any malicious parties will devise new ways to attack your Galaxy A52s after September 2025, you might be unsafe online.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the Galaxy A52s will reach the end of its life on Android 14 and One UI 6. In other words, from now on and until around September next year, you'll receive only a handful of new security patches before you'll probably have to upgrade to a new phone if you want to stay safe.
By that time, you'll probably have the Galaxy A56 to consider. And it will likely be a substantial upgrade over the aging Galaxy A52s. As great as this Snapdragon-powered phone may have been, it's starting to show its age, even in the face of newer Exynos-powered mid-range devices.