Following the flagship smartphones, Samsung has also extended the deadline for releasing updates for its TVs. The company told which models are participating in the new long-term patch program for Tizen firmware.

Samsung is reportedly updating its Tizen-powered smart televisions and home appliances to One UI, offering seven years of software upgrades to the devices. The One UI update for TVs is built on Samsung’s Tizen 8.0 operating system.

At the Samsung Developer Conference (SDC) 2024, Samsung announced plans to extend One UI across all its major product lines, including televisions, by 2025. Samsung’s One UI has been implemented on the company’s Galaxy smartphones for several years, and now, ahead of schedule, Samsung has begun to introduce One UI to certain TV models, including those launched in 2023.
 

Samsung TVs

The extension of the software support period for branded TVs was announced by Yong Sok-Woo, President of Samsung Electronics for the Display Business Unit, in an interview with Business Korea.

“With the seven-year free Tizen update applied to AI TVs, we will widen the gap in market share with Chinese companies,” the top executive said.

The full list of devices that will move to the seven-year update cycle has not yet been published. It is known that it will include TVs “with artificial intelligence” released in March 2024, as well as some representatives of last year’s model range.

Samsung will update the firmware of its TVs for 7 years

According to Sammobile, the update includes various interface improvements that align it more closely with the One UI experience on Samsung’s smartphones, such as redesigned app icons and animations, a new Game Bar interface with more features, new tabs on the home screen, and support for wallpapers and widgets on the standby screen.
 
One UI for Samsung TVs introduces a more streamlined Settings overlay, providing quick access to commonly used settings. The UI enhancements reportedly encompass a “For You” tab on the home screen featuring “personalized recommendations” and a new “Watch Later” list resembling Google TV.
 
Other notable changes include content recommendations based on recently searched and related content, provision to control multiple Samsung devices signed in with the same account using a single keyboard and mouse, Samsung Smart Thing integration, more languages for on-screen keyboard, improved drag & drop feature, new game bar interface, and enhanced multi view.

The policy extension is a notable jump from the updates It currently provides, which typically address bugs without upgrading the Tizen OS itself. The move comes as Samsung, currently the world’s biggest seller of smart TV, finds its market leadership being challenged by Chinese companies like Hisense and TCL. Research from analytics firm Omdia found that Samsung had a nearly 29 percent share of the global TV market during the first half of the year — down more than 2 percent from the year prior — while TCL and Hisense closed in with 12.1 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

“With the seven-year free upgrade of Tizen applied to AI TVs, we will widen the gap in market share with Chinese companies,” said Yong Seok-Yoon, the president of Samsung Electronic’s Visual Display Business Division. The exact models guaranteed to benefit from the expanded updates haven’t yet been specified by Samsung.

Samsung TVs you can buy. Our top pick is the Samsung S90D, which uses an OLED panel with quantum dots to deliver high contrast and bright colors. Meanwhile, shoppers looking for a budget-friendly display should consider the Samsung DU7200. It can’t match the image quality of Samsung’s pricier displays, but it still provides a solid entry-level smart TV experience at an affordable price.

We picked the best Samsung TVs based on a combination of hands-on testing and research informed by more than a decade’s worth of experience covering home entertainment products. Our recommendations also include QLED models, an 8K display, and an OLED built with an anti-glare screen.

Samsung made a similar announcement back in January regarding its Galaxy S24 smartphone series, pledging to provide seven years of OS upgrades and security updates. Around that time LG, Samsung’s domestic rival, also revealed it would be offering five years of webOS upgrades for its own smart TV lineup, though specific models it would apply to were at least included in that announcement.