Leaked document shows Samsung considering updating their mid-range devices to Android 4.4

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Published 9 Dec 2013

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investigation

Not everyone can afford a $600 phone, even if it comes with a two year contract. And the sad thing about mid-range and low-end Android devices is that they get almost zero support once they leave a company’s factory. Flagships always get updates, because people who buy flagships are presumably the kind of people who also care about updates, but again, what if you simply can’t afford a high-end phone? Are you going to be stuck on ancient software?

According to a leaked Samsung document, it looks like the company is taking a hard look at upgrading some of their budget devices to Android 4.4 KitKat. Specifically the Galaxy S4 mini, Galaxy S3 mini, both the Ace II and Ace III, the Galaxy Core, and the Galaxy Fame. It’s likely that Samsung got a bit jealous when they saw the $180 Moto G get announced, along with a promise that it’ll get updated to Android 4.4 by the end of January.

Does this document promise updates? No, but there’s reason to remain hopeful. Samsung, like just about every other smartphone OEM, builds their phones using the platform model. By that I mean they pick a certain chipset, do all the difficult integration work needed to make Android and TouchWiz run on top, and then multiple variants based on that platform are created. Some variants have bigger screens, some have better cameras, you get the idea.

Here’s hoping this “investigation” yields some actual results.