TL;DR
- There will be no more Samsung Galaxy Note 8 updates going forward.
- Samsung rolled out its last security patch to the phone in August 2021.
- The phone received a total of four years of updates.
The last security patch for the Galaxy Note 8 rolled out in August 2021. Less than a year before that, Samsung moved the Note 8 from monthly security patches to quarterly patches. We knew the device would only remain on the quarterly updates list for about a year, so this should hardly come as a surprise to those who closely follow Samsung’s update schedule. And if you’re curious, the last major software update the device received was Android 9 Pie, which rolled out back in February 2018.
According to Android Police, Samsung has also dropped support for the Galaxy Tab A (2017) alongside the Note 8.
Samsung kept the Galaxy Note 8 updated longer than Google has kept any Pixel phone updated.
The Galaxy Note 8 was released in 2017, which means it received software updates for a total of four years. That’s about as good as you can get in the Android world. Even Google — you know, the company that develops Android — only keeps its Pixel phones updated for a paltry three years. You might get software updates quicker on your Pixel phone, but Samsung will keep your phone updated for a longer period of time.
The Galaxy Note 8 was an important device for Samsung. It was the first major Note release after the horrible, no good, very bad Galaxy Note 7 situation. Its explosion-free lifespan helped right many of the wrongs committed by its predecessor.
Now, in 2021, it looks like Samsung is planning to shelve the Note series in lieu of a bigger, beefier Galaxy S22 smartphone. You can read all about that right here.
