We may earn a commission if you make a purchase from the links on this page.
According to an official Android 11 release schedule made public a couple of weeks ago, a grand total of only three Samsung smartphones were supposed to receive the major new update by the end of the year.
But the over-the-air One UI 3.0 rollout kicked off simultaneously for the 5G-enabled Galaxy S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra at the very beginning of December, sparking hope for an early delivery on the even newer Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra powerhouses, at least in certain markets.
In line with these expectations, the two ultra high-end devices that were initially slated to get the latest software goodie pack next year actually started their Android 11 upgrades last week on AT&T. As is often the case, the third-largest wireless service provider in the US treated only a small part of its eligible customers to the OS promotion initially, further spreading the love in the last few days judging by a number of Reddit reports.
Curiously enough, the US carrier appears to have beaten every other mobile network operator worldwide to the Android 11 punch as far as the Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra are concerned, although Samsung’s “international” updates seem to be finally underway as well. For the time being, SamMobile can only confirm the start of the OTA One UI 3.0 delivery for the Note 20 duo in Slovakia, but many other European and Asian countries are naturally bound to follow suit very soon.
We’re talking a matter of days or even hours in certain markets, so it’s safe to assume the vast majority of users around the world will be allowed to leave Android 10 behind by Christmas. Hopefully, that’s going to include Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra 5G owners on Verizon and T-Mobile too, and hopefully, the “Un-carrier” will not run into the same kind of mysterious trouble that recently led to a Galaxy S20-series update halt.
While the exact size of your Android 11-based One UI 3 upgrade obviously depends on your specific region and carrier, you should definitely leave more than 2 gigs of storage space free before trying to download and install all those performance improvements, fresh security patches, and many other UI tweaks and add-ons no matter where you purchased your newest phone.
