TL;DR
- Samsung Tizen OS-powered TV sets will soon get seven years of updates, as first reported by Business Korea and KED.
- The new promise applies to AI TVs, which is a buzzword used to describe newer Samsung sets with AI features. The new update cycle may apply to a few higher-end 2023 TV sets, but it seems to be mostly aimed at its newest 2024 lineup.
- Samsung hopes that pushing AI and better software updates will allow the company to be more competitive against a growing number of affordable sets out of China.
It’s become increasingly apparent that software updates are critical for keeping your computers, phones, and tablets safe on the web. For their part, Google and Samsung have both gotten more proactive regarding mobile updates. Several flagship phones now offer seven years of OS and security updates. But one product category that tends to get neglected? Smart TVs. Thankfully, Samsung is finally doing something about it.
New reports from Business Insider and KED (via ArsTechnica) were the first to break the news that Samsung has announced it is extending its seven-year Android update policy to its Tizen OS-powered TV sets. As with its mobile efforts, this pledge includes not only critical security fixes but also general software updates.
To be fair, Samsung isn’t the first TV manufacturer to commit to better update practices. In fact, it’s actually kind of late to the party, but at least Samsung now offers the longest guarantee.
Late last year, LG committed to at least four years of OS upgrades for all 2024 models, as well as some 2023 and 2022 models retroactively. We’ve also seen many smaller platforms disappear in favor of more secure, better-maintained platforms like Android TV and Fire TV. For example, Panasonic recently dropped its myHomeScreen in favor of Amazon’s streaming platform.
Samsung might be late, but we’re still pretty excited to see a seven-year update cycle here. After all, most of us keep our TVs for at least five years. Heck, I have an old “dumb” TV in my daughter’s bedroom that’s now about 13 years old.
Previously, you’d buy a new smart TV only to find that new streaming services and apps weren’t supported after a couple of years. But this new change should make that a thing of the past. It also means you don’t necessarily need the latest set to have the best software experience possible.
It’s worth noting that Samsung clarifies this commitment will apply to AI TVs. In the words of Samsung Electronics’ President of the Visual Display Business Division, “With the seven-year free upgrade of Tizen applied to AI TVs, we will widen the gap in market share with Chinese companies.”
Samsung has been using this term more frequently to describe its newer AI-equipped TVs, which hopefully means any model released in 2024 will get this new promised update cycle. It’s also possible that a few of the higher-end 2023 models might see more frequent updates as well.
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