Samsung Galaxy
Series of Android smartphones, mobile computing device and Android applications
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The product line includes the Galaxy S series of high-end smartphones, the Galaxy Z series of foldable smartphones, the Galaxy A, M, and F series of mid-range and budget smartphones, the Galaxy Tab series of tablets, and the Galaxy Watch series of smartwatches. The Galaxy TabPro S is the first Samsung Galaxy-branded Windows 10 device that was announced at CES 2016. In 2020, Samsung added the Galaxy Chromebook 2-in-1 laptop running ChromeOS to the Galaxy branding lineup. The Samsung Galaxy XR, first released on 21 October 2025, is one of the first major extended-reality devices to feature the Android XR operating system.
Samsung Galaxy devices come with a user interface called One UI (with previous versions being known as Samsung Experience and TouchWiz).
The Samsung Galaxy smartphones arguably brought Android into mainstream popularity in the early 2010s.
History
The Samsung Galaxy was launched in June 2009 as Samsung's first Android powered device. At the time, the brand's flagship smartphone was the Samsung Omnia and its successor, powered by Windows Mobile. Omnia had been the second full-touch Samsung device running the TouchWiz user interface (after the Tocco), but the Galaxy had an unmodified Android interface; the TouchWiz UI made its way to the Galaxy series with the Galaxy S. The Galaxy S and its successor Galaxy S II became very successful, eclipsing the company's other lines and operating systems. During the decade, the Galaxy phones "became the company's most-praised products [and] also were among the best-selling smartphones in the world."
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Products
Current
Discontinued
Samsung released multiple series of its devices, often overlapping with each other. Some of these series were dropped.
Other devices
Phones
- Samsung Galaxy [2009]
- Samsung Galaxy Spica [2009]
- Samsung Beam i8520 [2009]
- Samsung Galaxy U [2010]
- Samsung Galaxy Neo [2010]
- Samsung Galaxy Pro [2011]
- Samsung Galaxy Precedent [2011]
- Samsung Galaxy Rush [2011]
- Samsung Galaxy 5 [2011]
- Samsung Galaxy W [2011]
- Samsung Galaxy Fit [2011]
- Samsung Galaxy Gio [2011]
- Samsung Galaxy Prevail [2011]
- Galaxy Nexus [2011]
- Samsung Galaxy Discover [2012]
- Samsung Galaxy M Style [2012]
- Samsung Galaxy Reverb [2012]
- Samsung Galaxy Stellar [2012]
- Samsung Galaxy Appeal [2012]
- Samsung Galaxy Victory [2012]
- Samsung Galaxy Express [2012]
- Samsung Galaxy Express 2 [2013]
- Samsung Galaxy Fame [2013]
- Samsung Galaxy Star [2013]
- Samsung Galaxy Win [2013]
- Samsung Galaxy Win Pro [2013]
- Samsung Galaxy Star Pro [2013]
- Samsung Galaxy Fame Lite [2013]
- Samsung Galaxy Round [2013]
- Samsung Galaxy Light [2013]
- Samsung Galaxy V [2014]
- Samsung Galaxy Avant [2014]
- Samsung Galaxy W (2014) [2014]
- Samsung Galaxy V Plus [2015]
- Samsung Galaxy V2 [2016]
- Samsung Galaxy K Zoom [2014]
- Samsung Galaxy Folder [2015]
- Samsung Galaxy Active Neo [2015]
- Samsung Galaxy Folder 2 [2017]
- Samsung Galaxy Feel [2017]
- Samsung Galaxy Feel 2 [2019]
Media player
- Samsung Galaxy Player [2010]
Cameras
- Samsung Galaxy Camera [2012]
- Samsung Galaxy NX [2013]
- Samsung Galaxy Camera 2 [2014]
Projectors
- Samsung Galaxy Beam i8520 [2010]
- Samsung Galaxy Beam i8530 [2012]
Software
Samsung Galaxy smartphones run the Android operating system under the Google Mobile Services platform, however Samsung and third-parties have bundled various other software in them too. The TouchWiz interface was used until 2017, replaced by Samsung Experience. This was then replaced by One UI in 2019.
The company has created many apps and services under the Galaxy brand specifically for these devices - many of which come preloaded - including the Galaxy Store which provides apps and customizations. Since late 2019, several Microsoft apps like Outlook also come preloaded on Galaxy as a result of a Samsung-Microsoft partnership.
Security
Samsung has been reportedly caught quietly installing an Israeli bloatware application known as AppCloud in its phone lineup in the West Asian and North African regions. This app is known for collecting large amounts of sensitive personal data, without a chance to opt-out or uninstall the app without achieving root access due to it falling under the system app umbrella. This process of gaining root access would trip the Samsung Knox E-fuse and void the warranty in the event this is achieved by use of bootloader unlocking, which has recently become impossible on all Samsung devices running One UI 8 or above, as the code for unlocking the bootloader has been completely stripped from not only the settings app, but also the bootloader itself.
Interoperability
Samsung have made several tools for making various Galaxy devices like phones, tablets and watches, work closer together. Samsung Flow is an app allowing content to be synced with a PC, such as notifications, replying to messages and authenticating from a PC, and sharing content. It was announced in November 2014, released in a preview form in May 2015 with the final release in May 2016. Microsoft's Phone Link has been included on Galaxy smartphones since 2019.
Another feature named Multi Control allows Galaxy smartphones to be controlled with a Galaxy Book keyboard and mouse, and drag and drop file sharing between them. Device Control is another feature in the quick panel that can control SmartThings and other devices.
Samsung Smart Switch, preinstalled on recent Galaxy phones and tablets, copies contacts, messages, photographs, application data and settings from a user's previous device onto a Galaxy one. It takes iOS devices as well as other Android handsets as the source, working over a cable, a direct wireless connection, external storage or an iCloud backup, although applications themselves are not carried across from iOS.
Release history
The following is a table showing the full initial release history of every Galaxy device since 2009.
Regional firmware variants
Region locking and CSC codes
Starting from the Galaxy Note 3, Samsung phones and tablets contained a warning label stating that it would only operate with SIM cards from the region the phone was sold in. A spokesperson clarified the policy, stating that it was intended to prevent grey-market reselling, and that it only applied to the first SIM card inserted. For devices to use a SIM card from other regions, one of the following actions totaling five minutes or longer in length must first be performed with the SIM card from the local region:
- Make calls on the phone or watch from the Samsung Phone app
- Use the Call and Text on Other Devices feature to make calls
With the launch of the Galaxy S8 series in 2017, that process has changed. Due to the fact that many variants use a Multi-CSC, it will only work with SIM cards from the same CSC group. For example, an AT&T SIM card will not work on cellular-based Galaxy devices sold in Europe and other countries.
Model numbers
Since September 2013, model numbers of devices in the Samsung Galaxy series are in the "SM-ABCDE" format (excluding the Galaxy J SC-02F, Galaxy Centura SCH-S738C, and SGH-N075T), where A is the model series, B is the device class, C is the generation, D is the device type, and E is the country/region that it is made for (if applicable). Prior to September 2013, the model numbers were in the "GT-XXXXX" format; they were also in the "SCH-XXXX", "SGH-XXXX", "SPH-XXXX" and "SHV/SHW-XXXX" formats.
Model Series (A)
Current
Former
Regions (E)
Firmware numbering
The following is a list of known firmware regions.
Over the Horizon
"Over the Horizon" is the trademark sound for Samsung smartphone devices, first introduced in 2011 on the Galaxy S II. It was composed by Joong-sam Yun and appears as music in the music library of most Samsung phones released since 2011. Prior to 2011, "Beyond Samsung" served as Samsung's trademark music track, while "Samsung Tune" was used as the default ringtone. The sound appears as the default ringtone, as well as the sound when the phone turns on or off (a snippet is used), and as a notification sound. While the basic composition of the six-note tune has not changed since its inception, various versions of different genres have been introduced as the product line evolved.
While the first two versions were created in-house at Samsung, later versions were outsourced to external musicians. The sound has been covered by various popular artists who have released their own arrangements and remixes of the song, such as Quincy Jones, Icona Pop, Suga of BTS, and various K-pop artists. In Samsung's U.S. registration of the trademark for the sound, it is described as "the sound of a bell playing a B4 dotted eighth note, a B4 sixteenth note, an F#5 sixteenth note, a B5 sixteenth note, an A#5 eighth note, and an F#5 half note".