The Galaxy A8 (2018) is already receiving the February 2021 security update, over three years since its official debut. Identified by release version A530FXXSHCUB1, the newest over-the-air package for Samsung's 2018 mid-ranger has first been spotted in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday. While we still haven't verified that the rollout expanded to any other country, the wait for that to happen presumably won't be too long.
If you're eager to install the new security package from Samsung, you can perform a manual check whenever you want by launching the Settings app, scrolling down to Software update, and tapping the Download and install option on the final interface. Optionally, power users can download the full system images containing the new update from our firmware archives.
How much longer will the Galaxy A8 (2018) keep receiving security patches?
The newly spotted OTA download doesn't contain any other user-facing additions or changes. That's hardly a surprise, as the Galaxy A8 (2018) is one of the rare few devices that are still receiving security patches from Samsung but aren't expected to benefit from any subsequent feature additions. The deployment of the February 2021 security update hence won't affect the underlying Android 9 Pie basis of the original One UI OS. After all, the Galaxy A8 (2018) shipped with Android 7.1.1 Nougat.
With that said, many of its successors from the Galaxy A family will enjoy longer support from Samsung moving forward, much like the company promised last year. But as for the Galaxy A8 (2018), this particular smartphone is likely nearing the end of its life cycle, at least as far as the non-enterprise models are concerned.
