We're closing in on half a decade since Samsung retired the Galaxy Note brand. The Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra, released in August 2020, were the last Note flagship phones to hit the shelves before Samsung retired the Note name and moved the S Pen over to the Galaxy S Ultra.
Now, these very last Galaxy Note phones are beginning to show their age more than ever, as starting this month, the Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra will receive new security patches once every quarter instead of every month.
No more monthly updates for the Galaxy Note 20
The Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra recently turned four years old, and in line with Samsung's firmware update policy, these phones are no longer eligible for monthly security patches.
Thankfully, Samsung hasn't abandoned these S Pen phones just yet. Even though the Galaxy Note 20 series was initially supposed to get only four years of security patches, Samsung improved its policy a few years ago to offer extended support for select devices.
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The Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra are among those few lucky devices to benefit from extended support. As per Samsung's security bulletin, the Galaxy Note 20 series is still supported, but the company will update these phones with new security patches every quarter instead of every month — most likely for one more year before dropping support altogether.
Other Galaxy phones and tablets released in 2020 weren't as lucky. As you may have heard earlier today, Samsung dropped support entirely for the Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy Tab S7 lineups. They are no longer guaranteed to receive any updates.
If you want to continue the S Pen legacy and think it's time for an upgrade, your best options are to buy the Galaxy S24 Ultra or to keep using the Note 20 until the S25 series goes official early next year. One thing to consider is that, by early accounts, the Galaxy S25 Ultra might look very different from its predecessors, and the Galaxy S24 Ultra might be the last in the series to bear any resemblance to the Note 20 Ultra.
