Google launched Android 11 just a few months ago, but the company is already working hard on the next annual platform update. It is sometimes difficult to find out which phones and tablets will be eligible for future Android operating system updates, so in this summary, we’ll tell you when (or if) you can expect Android 12 on your device.
Most device manufacturers do not say which phones or tablets will receive the next Android update until Google has released it. In some cases, manufacturers are still quiet after that point, leaving device owners in the dark. This is generally not a good omen for future support, but there have been cases of phones and tablets suddenly getting an Android update without notice.
Few companies have announced their upgrade plans for Android 12, but we can make reasoned assumptions for the rest of them.
Samsung’s plans to update its phones have always been a bit fuzzy, especially for its cheap phones, but that finally changed last year. Samsung now promises to give majority of their new phones and tablets “three generations” of Android updates. In other words, most devices that started on Android 10 must have Android 11 (as many of them already have), Android 12 and Android 13. For most devices starting with Android 11, such as the Galaxy S21, support should last until Android 14.
Samsung shared a list of phones and tablets with three years of support last year, all running Android 12:
- Galaxy S series: Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G, S20 Ultra, S20 + 5G, S20 +, S20 5G, S20 plus S10 5G, S10 +, S10, S10e, S10 Lite and future S series devices
- Galaxy Note Series: Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G, Note20 Ultra, Note20 5G, Note20, Note10 + 5G, Note10 +, Note10 5G, Note10, Note10 Lite and the next devices in the Note series
- Foldable Galaxy devices: Galaxy Z Fold2 5G, Z Fold2, Z Flip 5G, Z Flip, Fold 5G, Fold devices and the next Z series devices
- Galaxy A series: Galaxy A71 5G, A71, A51 5G, A51, A90 5G and selected future A series devices
- Tablets: Galaxy Tab S7 + 5G, Tab S7 +, Tab S7 5G3, Tab S7, Tab S6 5G4, Tab S6, Tab S6 Lite and the next devices of the Tab S series
Samsung has launched some phones since then, but all future phones in the S, Note or Z series are included automatically. It is more difficult to speculate on which pre-2020 phones will receive Android 12. Samsung said earlier that “flagship models of the Galaxy S10 (Android 9) or later” are also eligible for three years of support, so the Galaxy S10 and Note10 must also have Android 12.
As for When the devices mentioned above will have Android 12, this is more difficult to answer. Samsung usually starts updating its main phones a few months after Google releases the update, with tablets and cheap phones coming later. For example, Google launched Android 11 on September 8 last year, while launches for the Galaxy S20 and Note20 series did not begin until December (at least in the United States).
Google phones always received updates on the first day, whenever new versions of Android are made available, so if you have a Pixel smartphone, you will receive Android 12 as soon as Google launches it. You still have the option to try the update before Google releases it, since Pixel phones are eligible for the Android Beta program, but that’s only a good idea if you can handle some bugs.
Pixel devices receive three years of operating system and security updates, so the Pixel 3, 4, 5, 3a and 4a / 4a 5G will have Android 12. Google abandoned support for Pixel 2 last year and, unless that something changes, Android 12 will be the final update for the Pixel 3 (and possibly 3a / 3a XL).
Even though Nokia’s first Android phones were sold with the promise of fast, long-lasting Android updates, the company hasn’t kept that promise in a while. Android 11 launched on September 8, and Nokia took another month to say which phones would be updated. Although the first batch of updates was promised for the last quarter of 2020, the process only started in February of this year.
Update schedule for Nokia’s original Android 11. In fact, the updates started in February 2021, not in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Given the progress of the Android 11 update process, it is probably safe to assume that no Nokia phone will receive Android 12 until at least January 2022. Most of the company’s phones receive two operating system updates, so if your model was shipped with Android 10 or 11, you he must get Android 12 … sometime.
Although OnePlus has done a poor job of releasing Android security patches in time, major operating system updates are still being released relatively quickly. Google launched Android 11 on September 8, and it arrived on OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro about a month later. However, the rest of the company’s formation is still waiting.
OnePlus has already confirmed that OP5 and 5T will not receive Android 11, so it is likely that OnePlus 6 and 6T will be discarded during the transition to Android 12. The OnePlus 8 / 8T series and all Nord phones will definitely have Android 12 and probably the 7 / 7T series as well. If the launch of Android 11 is an indication, it will probably take at least six months to reach the company’s entire product line, and possibly more.
We don’t have specific predictions about what to expect from other manufacturers, but if your phone or tablet came with Android 11, probably get an update to Android 12 in 2021. Unfortunately, with so much variation in typical distribution schedules, even between phones produced by the same company, providing a concrete answer is almost impossible.