Samsung says it will be even faster rolling out Android 14 next year

Samsung is on a mission. It says that it will push out Android 14 faster than it disseminated Android 13 this year. Google's own Pixel phones are still the gold standard when it comes to getting the newest Android build ahead of the pack. But Samsung's Android 13/One UI 5.0 update did deliver the latest Unicode 15 emoji to Galaxy owners before Pixel users.

Samsung has bragged about how fast it was able to get Android13/One UI 5.0 pushed out this year and while it has already updated its higher-end phones and even the Galaxy Tab S8 tablet line, by the end of the year Samsung says that devices like the Galaxy Tab S7 and Tab S6 Lite will also be running Android 13/One UI 5.0.

In a press release, Samsung (via 9to5Google) said that this year's update "drastically reduced the time interval" between the release of Android 13 and the "deployment" of One UI 5.0. Samsung has shown a big improvement in how fast it delivers the latest Android version. Outside of Google's own Pixel devices, it can take a few months for Android phones to receive the latest build of the operating system.

Samsung was the fastest of any Android phone manufacturer in delivering Android 13 to its customers (again, excluding Google). Phones like the Google Pixel line and the Apple iPhone are able to receive updates faster than the competition since the same company that designs the phones also makes the software (Android and iOS, respectively). In fact, it is the large number of different Android manufacturers that gives the platform its reputation for being fragmented.

When Google used to release the distribution numbers for Android each month, the most recently released version would never have a large percentage of installs. That was due to fragmentation. For example, just before the release of Android 13, Android 11 was on the most handsets (27%) and was on more than twice the number of phones running Android 12. And if you recall, Samsung Galaxy owners used to have to wait for quite a few months before they received the latest Android update.

Part of the reason why Samsung was able to step up the pace of its Android 13 updates is because of its close partnership with Google. Samsung even makes note of this in its press release when it said, "Samsung Electronics will continue to strengthen cooperation with Google and actively listen to user feedback to continue to update One UI faster and with higher perfection."

The One UI interface that Samsung pushes out with the latest Android update was created to help its customers use large-screened handsets with one hand. This is accomplished by moving most of the actionable elements to the bottom of the display.

Samsung says that it took only two months from the time Google released the final stable version of Android 13 in August to October 24th when it first dropped the Android 13/One UI 5.0 update. Again, the company says that it will be even faster in 2023 with Android 14/One UI 6.

In case you're wondering, it seems that the upcoming Galaxy S23 flagship series will have Android 13 pre-installed along with One UI 5.1. Just yesterday we passed along a report that says Samsung is almost done developing the interface. The Galaxy S23 line is expected to be unveiled during the next Samsung Unpacked event which could take place in January or February of 2023.

One area where Samsung is ahead of Google's Pixels is in the number of Android updates its flagship models receive. While both the latest Pixels and the Galaxy S22 receive five years of security updates, the latter will receive four years of major Android updates compared to just three with the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 lines. This should be embarrassing to Google since, as we've pointed out, it designs the phone and develops the software.