These 12 Samsung smartphones have been declared obsolete

Samsung is one of the leading telephony companies in the world. Samsung smartphones are among the best-selling on the planet, second only to iPhones. To keep up you need to be ready to continually innovate, looking for unique functions and features in a rather crowded market. For this reason, periodically, older smartphones stop receiving attention from manufacturers, leaving room for more modern models.

Just recently, Samsung announced that as many as 12 smartphones have been declared obsolete. These are not dated or little-used cell phones, quite the opposite. The list includes smartphones that are among the most popular and widespread among users, which however must give way to successors, in the continuous change that characterizes technological progress.

Be careful, even if these cell phones have been marked as obsolete, they will not stop working at any moment, but will undergo the ordinary process of wear and tear. At the same time, there may be significant changes in user experience that you should be prepared for.

12 Samsung smartphones declared obsolete

There are 12 obsolete smartphones according to Samsung’s assessment, soon to be affected by some important changes regarding updates and security. As anticipated, the list includes very popular models, in particular:

• Samsung Galaxy S21;
• Samsung Galaxy S21+;
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra;
• Samsung Galaxy Note 20;
• Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra;
• Samsung Galaxy S20;
• Samsung Galaxy S20+;
• Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra;
• Samsung Galaxy S20FE;
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2;
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G;
• Samsung Galaxy A72.

What does it mean to become obsolete

Obsolescence is a concept found in technical, economic, and legal language, with complex analyses and facets. As far as these smartphones are concerned, however, it can be concluded that good is obsolete when, despite being theoretically usable, because it has not deteriorated to the point of being out of use, it is supplanted by the evolution of digital products.

We are talking about products that are no longer in step with the times, but in this case, we are not faced with a process due to natural evolution due to progress. It is the manufacturing company itself, Samsung precisely, that declares smartphones obsolete even before their lifespan, with a precise strategic choice due to the introduction of new products.

It is no longer useful or profitable to invest too much effort in these smartphones because attention must be paid to the newest products and above all to those still in the design phase. In concrete terms, this means that the 12 phones mentioned will stop receiving updates. That’s right, obsolescence occurs in every sense because, at a certain point, phones will not be functional to what modern products do, even if they are still working.

What are the risks of owning an obsolete smartphone

Samsung has declared very popular smartphones obsolete and certainly does not intend to deprive users of all protection. For this reason, a gradual procedure will be followed, with the same objective but without causing excessive inconvenience to customers. The most recent models, such as those of the Galaxy S21 series, will continue to receive security updates for at least one year.

Other smartphones will see much more sporadic security updates, but all the devices on the list will no longer receive Samsung’s improvements and innovations, remaining crystallized in the functions currently available. This means that these smartphones will no longer be improved and will gradually be at an increasingly greater disadvantage compared to new models, until at a certain point, also depending on one’s personal needs, they will cease to be considered useful.

The most important risk, however, concerns cyber attacks to which phones will be increasingly exposed as security updates become less frequent. For advanced features and performances, for example regarding battery life, changing phone will be enough, while cyber attacks can leave much more serious consequences (for example ransomware).

Taking into account that Samsung still ensures some updates and that the average life of a smartphone ranges from 2 to 5 years, it is still probable that few users will come into contact with these risks.

Original article published on Money.it Italy 2024-08-03 18:32:03. Original title: 12 smartphone Samsung sono stati dichiarati obsoleti. Ecco cosa rischi se ne hai uno