Samsung won’t bring always-on display feature to older devices

Always-on display in action. Photo: Samsung

Always-on display in action. Photo: Samsung

Samsung’s new Galaxy S7 and S7 edge have an always-on display that lets you check notifications, calendars, and more without waking your device. Samsung could bring the same technology to older Galaxy handsets — but it won’t.

Samsung’s always-on display does more than most. It shows outstanding notifications just like the others, but you can also customize it to suit you, adding a calendar that shows your schedule, and even images that you can download from Samsung’s Theme Store.

Samsung’s AMOLED displays, which don’t burn energy when displaying black pixels, mean that the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge can offer this feature with a minimal impact on battery life. Previous Samsung devices also have AMOLED displays, but they’re not going to get it.

SamMobile reports that Samsung has no plans to bring the always-on display feature to older Galaxy handsets — not even last year’s Galaxy S6 series — so fans will need to upgrade to get their hands (or eyes?) on it, unfortunately.

Perhaps we’ll see a third-party alternative for older Galaxies, or maybe even an unofficial port of the Galaxy S7’s always-on display functionality. Just don’t expect to see it in a future Samsung update for an older phone.