Samsung's latest foldable flagships, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6, come with impressive specs and innovative features like on-device generative AI. Nonetheless, these premium devices seem to lack a feature that has become increasingly common on Android phones: seamless updates.
Introduced by Google almost a decade ago, seamless updates allow Android phones to download and install updates in the background, minimizing downtime. Users can continue using their phones uninterrupted while the update installs on a separate system partition.
Traditional vs. Seamless Updates
In contrast, traditional updates require a full reboot, locking users out of their devices for several minutes. While this might not be a dealbreaker for everyone, seamless updates offer a smoother experience, especially for those who frequently update their phones with security patches.
Samsung’s Galaxy A55, released earlier in 2024, was the first Samsung phone to adopt seamless updates, raising hopes that this feature would become standard across the company’s lineup. However, initial tests by SamMobile using developer tools suggest the Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 lack this support.
The Challenge of Seamless Updates
Missing seamless updates from the factory likely means it won’t be added later. Implementing seamless updates requires a dual-partition system layout, and modifying this on existing devices can lead to stability issues – a risk Samsung likely won’t take.
The culprit behind this omission might be software size. Flagship Galaxy devices tend to have bloated software compared to mid-range counterparts.
The A55’s firmware reportedly weighs in at around 8GB, while the Z Fold 5 and S24 Ultra have firmware sizes of 14GB and 16GB, respectively. This additional software may simply not leave enough space for a dedicated update partition on the Fold 6 and Flip 6.
A Commitment to Updates
With a commitment to seven years of software updates, users can expect numerous firmware downloads for the Z Fold 6 and Flip 6. While these updates will bring security patches and bug fixes, they will unfortunately require the traditional reboot process, interrupting use for a few minutes each time.
