Samsung have posted the highlights of KitKat 4.4 and which devices will get the update. The Samsung Galaxy S3 along with the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 are on the list, however it doesn’t seem like every model will get the update. It has been said that the Samsung Galaxy S3 with 1GB of RAM will not get it.
The Samsung Galaxy S3 was thought to be a future proof handset, however it seems that the hardware is ageing and so it will not get the KitKat 4.4 update.
Sprint said that the Samsung Galaxy S3 would get updated, along with the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. The Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini and Galaxy Mega, which is the US variation of the Samsung Galaxy S3 comes with 2GB of RAM and is 4G/LTE compatible.
Another reason apart from the hardware is the fact of the 18 month window that Samsung follow. The Samsung Galaxy GT-I9305 was launched in September 2012 and the software support is due to expire in March this year.
The Samsung Galaxy GT-I9300 came out in May 2012 and has passed the expiration date for upgrade plans. Owners of the I9300 will have the choice of making the update to the Samsung Galaxy S4 or sticking with Jelly Bean 4.3 custom ROMs that are offered.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 also backs up the update window as it was launched around the same as the Samsung Galaxy S3 GT-I9350 and it will be getting an update in April, despite the fact that software support expired in March. This will be the last firmware update that the handset gets.
On the official update page of Samsung it didn’t go into detail about the Samsung Galaxy S3 variants that would get the KitKat 4.4 update, it just noted the name of the device. Here is the list that will get updated during the first half of this year.
1. Galaxy S4 – AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon
2. Galaxy Note 3- AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon
3. Galaxy S4 Refresh from Sprint
4. Galaxy S4 Active
5. Galaxy Mega
6. Galaxy S4 Mini
7. Galaxy Tab 3
8. Galaxy S3
9. Galaxy S4 Zoom
10. Galaxy S3 Mini
11. Galaxy Light
12. Galaxy Note 8.0
13. Galaxy Note 10.1
14. Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition
15. Galaxy Note 2
