Samsung’s budget Galaxy A18 will stay updated until 2032—if you can live without 5G

Samsung has quietly launched another inexpensive Galaxy phone, and its most impressive specification has nothing to do with the processor, camera, or display. The Galaxy A18 will receive six generations of operating-system upgrades and six years of security updates, giving Samsung’s latest affordable phone an unusually long software runway.

It also ships with Android 17-based One UI 9 out of the box. While this sounds like a great deal for users who only upgrade after a couple of years, Samsung has only launched the 4G version right now.

Six years is a lot of life for a budget phone

Samsung has steadily pushed its lengthy update commitments down its product stack. Six years of support was remarkable when the Galaxy A16 introduced it to this price class, and the company is continuing that strategy with the A18. Samsung’s French store lists the phone with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, while the Galaxy A18 itself starts at 279 euros, or roughly $330. It is worth noting that there is no confirmed US launch yet, so take the pricing as a suggestion, at least for now.

The hardware is nothing special, which isn’t a surprise at this price range. You get a 6.7-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display running at up to 90Hz, a new Exynos 1610 processor, and a 5,000mAh battery with 25W wired charging. Samsung says the new chip delivers 32% faster single-core CPU performance, alongside 7% improvements to multi-core CPU and GPU performance compared with the Galaxy A16.

The camera setup is humble

Around the back is a 50MP main camera accompanied by a 5MP ultrawide and 2MP macro camera, while a 13MP sensor handles selfies. Samsung has also upgraded the protection to IP64, meaning the phone is dust-tight and resistant to splashing water.

You also get Circle to Search, Gemini integration, Samsung Knox Vault, and microSD expansion, so Samsung hasn’t completely stripped the software experience down for its cheaper handset. But what stands out is the connectivity. Six years of updates theoretically take this phone well into the next decade, yet buyers of the current A18 will be relying on LTE for that entire journey.

A 5G model may eventually follow. Samsung sold both 4G and 5G versions of previous A-series generations, but the company has not announced one yet. Long software support remains one of Samsung’s strongest arguments in the budget market. I just wish the hardware felt quite as prepared for those six years as the software does.