Last updated: July 22nd, 2026 at 21:15 UTC+02:00
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Good 'til 2031.
Reading time: 2 minutes
Abhijeet Mishra / SamMobile
It feels like Samsung has upgraded its firmware support policies every year lately, and it's done it again at Unpacked in London. Samsung has announced that its latest Galaxy Watches will benefit from longer firmware support.
The new Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 will enjoy five major OS upgrades and five years of security patches.
Previous Galaxy Watch models, beginning with the Galaxy Watch 4, followed a four-OS-upgrade policy, but they, too, enjoyed a five-year security patch window.
As of now, it's unclear whether any older models, such as the Galaxy Watch 8, Watch 8 Classic, or original Galaxy Watch Ultra, will retroactively benefit from this new five OS update policy. We'll let you know when we find out more.
Samsung's Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 ship with Wear OS 7 and One UI 9 Watch. As you'd expect, they also introduce a handful of new and upgraded AI and Health features.
Thanks to this improved five-year policy, the 2026 models should receive their final major OS upgrade in 2031.
The Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 pre-order window opened on July 22. Samsung has scheduled the global launch for August 7.
The Watch 9 starts at €409/$379. The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is available in a single configuration (47mm with LTE) for €749/$699.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9JWJR3lEDA
First Samsung device: SGH-A800
Mihai is a blogger and column writer at SamMobile. His first Samsung phone was an A800 which took a lot of beating, and a part of him still misses the novelty of the clamshell design. In his free time, he enjoys watching shows, documentaries, and stand-up comedy; listening to music, taking walks, and occasionally playing old(er) video games.
