Android 10 marks the end of Linux on Samsung’s phones

Oct 21, 2019 07:20 GMT  ·  By

Samsung’s ambitious project to bring a full version of Ubuntu to its smartphones has been canceled, and the upcoming debut of Android 10 will remove even the existing beta versions currently up for testing.

Back in 2018, the South Korean smartphone manufacturer decided to push things to the next level with its DeX project and enable a full version of Linux on top of Android.

Samsung DeX is a special feature that allows flagships like the Galaxy S and Note to connect to larger screens using dedicated hardware and boost the productivity side of Android with mouse and keyboard support. Technically, Samsung DeX allows an Android phone to become an almost fully-featured PC that is connected to a bigger screen. A PC running Android, that is.

Last year, however, Samsung started a collaboration with Canonical, the makers of Ubuntu, to bring this Linux distro to DeX, essentially enabling Linux to run on Galaxy S and Note phones.

Linux on DeX no more

While the idea was exciting for many, especially for those in the Linux community, it looks like the South Korean firm eventually decided to abandon the project altogether. The upcoming debut of Android 10 will mark the end of Linux on DeX, as this update will retire even the beta builds that have already been released as part of the testing program.

“Thank you for supporting Linux on DeX Beta. The development of Linux on DeX was all thanks to customer interest and valuable feedback. Unfortunately, we are announcing the end of our beta program, and will no longer provide support on future OS and device releases,” an email sent by Samsung to registered testers reads as per 9to5Google.

“NOTE: Linux on DeX will not be supported on Android 10 Beta. Once you update your device to Android OS 10, you will not be able to perform a version rollback to Android Pie. If you decide to update your device to Android 10 Beta, we recommend backing up data before updating.”

Samsung is projected to roll out the Android 10 update to its devices in the coming months, as the beta program has started only a few weeks ago.