While the S20 FE 5G is part of Samsung’s 2020 flagship lineup, it’s too old to buy new given the premium prices offered by Samsung and other prepaid carriers/MVNOs. It’s on sale for less than half price at Walmart, but you’d still be wise to consider a newer phone in that price range. The biggest reason to hold off on buying a new S20 FE 5G is that it’s essentially reaching the end of its life from a software perspective.
Samsung is committed to only three Android OS upgrades and four years of security updates for the S20 FE 5G and the rest of the S20 series. Android OS upgrades are exactly what they sound like: upgrading your phone to a shiny new operating system version with the latest features not available in older releases. Security updates, on the other hand, are more frequent software updates designed to serve two purposes: to enhance security and fix bugs. What happens if you don’t update your Android phone with OS upgrades and security updates? Your device will not be in top condition (i.e. stable and safe from vulnerabilities) and your user experience may be affected.
The risk in buying the S20 FE 5G is the end of software support. It came with Android 10, so Android 13 will be its last OS upgrade (it has already received it in late 2022). That said, you can’t expect to get Android 14 or Android 15 (which are still in development) anymore. As for security updates, at the time of writing, Samsung still supports the S20 FE 5G, although that may end later this year when the device’s promised four years of security updates come to an end.
