Samsung will launch the Galaxy S25 family in early 2025 – it won’t admit it, but we all know it’s happening. The new phones will undoubtedly run the latest Qualcomm silicon with large, bright OLED displays, but there might be a surprise inside. A leaker claims that Samsung will finally add support for A/B system updates with the Galaxy S25.

On X (formerly Twitter), Samsung leaker Chun Bhai made a simple statement: “S25 series supports A/B update,” Bhai said. This could mark a long-awaited change for Samsung, which would see it join all other Android OEMs in supporting this update mechanism.

Android updates were so rare that it didn’t matter much how they were installed. Today, flagship phones can expect a monthly OTA with security patches, and major OS updates also arrive occasionally. At first, devices would download the update and then force a reboot to begin the installation. This may take a long time and your phone may not be usable during the installation. This is true even for the latest Galaxy S24 (above).

Starting in Android 7.0 Nougat, Google has implemented seamless updates. By using an A and B partition, the device can install the update to the unused partition to swap it almost instantly during a reboot. If something goes wrong during the update, the device can also revert to the older version of Android instead of becoming an expensive brick. There is almost no downtime beyond a normal device reboot, but there is a downside: adding support for A/B partitions consumes more space storage.

Samsung has so far refused to implement seamless updates to its phone, leaving users with a few gigabytes of extra space, but each update is more of a pain than it needs to be. Samsung only lets you postpone an update a few times and then forces the installation, which means you may not be able to choose exactly when your phone goes offline for 15 minutes. If Bhai’s claim is correct, the S25 series will be the first Samsung phone capable of installing updates in the background for a quick reboot.

The leak doesn’t include any information on when we might see the Galaxy S25– it’s really just these five words. However, tradition points to early 2025. There will likely be an announcement in January or February, with a launch several weeks later. Samsung may not bother to mention seamless updates when it will certainly have a plethora of AI Features to explain. A/B updates will probably be more useful, though.