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4 Ways to Check Manufacturing Date of Samsung Devices

If you own a Samsung phone or tablet and want to check its manufacturing date, you can use Samsung serial number, IMEI number, or dialer code to know when your device was made. Not just that, you can also check the mobile activation date of the Samsung Galaxy or any Android phone. Once you have discovered the manufacturing date, you can easily know how old your phone or tablet is and also check if it’s still under warranty. Besides, we’ll also see how to check the activation or unboxing date of an Android device.

1. Using Samsung Serial Number

Every Samsung Galaxy phone and tablet comes with a unique S/N or Serial Number that consists of 11 alphanumeric characters. Now, if you think that the serial number of your Samsung Galaxy device is just a string of random characters, you’re wrong. In reality, all these characters tell something about your device and one set of characters in the serial number tells about the manufacturing date of your Samsung device.

Check the Serial Number of your Samsung Device

Before we proceed to check the manufacturing date of Samsung phones or tablets, let’s check out how we can get the serial number. Just navigate to Settings > About phone or About tablet and you will find the serial number mentioned on the screen.samsung phone serial number

Alternatively, you can also check the serial number of your Samsung phone using the ADB shell commands.

adb shell 
getprop | grep -e 'serialno'

samsung serial number adb command

Moreover, you can also check the serial number of your Samsung Galaxy device printed on the back panel. However, you’ll have to use a magnifying glass to read it because the text is too small.

samsung phone or tablet serial number

Samsung Serial Number Explained

As I mentioned above, the serial number of your device is more than random values. If you decode the serial number of your Samsung Galaxy device, you can easily find its product type, the factory where it was assembled, the month and year of manufacture, and the serial number itself. In case you own a Samsung TV as well, check out my article describing how to check the serial number of your TV and find out its manufacturing date and warranty status.

As you can see in the screenshots above, the Serial number of my Galaxy Note 10+ is RZ8M810BARJ. I also have a Galaxy S8 Plus with S/N RZ8J414Z1PA and checked its manufacturing date too. The point is, it doesn’t matter whether you own a Galaxy S9, S10, S20, S21, S22, S23, Note 20, Tab A, A30, A50, A80, M30, or any other Samsung phone or tablet. When you decrypt the serial number, you’ll get the month and year in which your phone or tablet was manufactured.

samsung serial number manufacturing date

It’s time to crack the Samsung serial number in further detail. Suppose RZ8M810BARJ is the serial number of your device and check out the details below.

  • R: Samsung uses ‘R‘ at the beginning of the serial number of all its smartphones and tablets. It represents the product code assigned by the manufacturer to determine the device’s family.  So, even if you own a Samsung Galaxy Tab, its serial code would start with the R product code.
  • Z8: The 2nd and 3rd characters of the serial number of Samsung devices represent the code of the Samsung factory and the country where a phone or tablet was assembled. Since ZC and Z8 are present in the serial numbers of my Galaxy S23 Ultra and Note 10 respectively on the backside of both the devices that have been “Manufactured in India” mentioned, I believe ZC and Z8 are the codes for the Samsung mobile production units in India. Thus, these 2 characters tell about the Samsung mobile manufacturing country as well. Similarly, if the 2nd & 3rd characters of your Samsung device are C5, it’s made in Vietnam.
  • M: The 4th character of the serial number is the code of the year the device came into existence. If you check out the Samsung production date table given below, M stands for the year 2019.
  • 8: Coming to the 5th character, that is 8, it is the code for the month in which the Samsung device was manufactured.
  • 10BARJ: Finally, come the last 6 characters that are the actual serial number of your Samsung Galaxy phone or tablet. These alphanumeric values contain technical information about the device like its chipset, storage, color, model, etc.

You can easily calculate the month and year when a Samsung device was manufactured using the following table. If your phone’s serial number is RCCW11B6RVE, take the 4th and 5th characters, that is W1 and look for it in the Samsung production date table to check the manufacturing date of your Samsung Galaxy device.

Year January February March April May June July August September October November December
Month & Year Code 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C
2001 R R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 RA RB RC
2002 T T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 TA TB TC
2003 W W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 WA WB WC
2004 X X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 X6 X7 X8 X9 XA XB XC
2005 Y Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4 Y5 Y6 Y7 Y8 Y9 YA YB YC
2006 A, L A1, L1 A2, L2 A3, L3 A4, L4 A5, L5 A6, L6 A7, L7 A8, L8 A9, L9 AA, LA AB, LB AC, LC
2007 P P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P9 PA PB PC
2008 Q Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 QA QB QC
2009 S S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 SA SB SC
2010 Z Z1 Z2 Z3 Z4 Z5 Z6 Z7 Z8 Z9 ZA ZB ZC
2011 B B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 BA BB BC
2012 C C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 CA CB CC
2013 D D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 D8 D9 DA DB DC
2014 F F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 F9 FA FB FC
2015 G G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 GA GB GC
2016 H H1 H2 H3 H4 H5 H6 H7 H8 H9 HA HB HC
2017 J J1 J2 J3 J4 J5 J6 J7 J8 J9 JA JB JC
2018 K K1 K2 K3 K4 K5 K6 K7 K8 K9 KA KB KC
2019 M M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9 MA MB MC
2020 N N1 N2 N3 N4 N5 N6 N7 N8 N9 NA NB NC
2021 R R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 RA RB RC
2022 T T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 TA TB TC
2023 W W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 WA WB WC

Thus, you know how old your phone is.

2. Check the Manufacturing Date Using IMEI

Another way to find out the manufacturing date of your Samsung Android device is by analyzing the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) code of your phone or tablet. You can find out the IMEI of your Samsung device in 2 ways:

  1. Open the Dialer app on your device and type *#06#.check samsung imei dialer code
  2. Go to Settings > About device or About phone.samsung about phone imei code

Once you have the IMEI code of your Samsung phone or tablet, visit imeicheck.com, eimei24.com, imeipro.info, or imei24.com. Type your device’s IMEI there and click on the Check button. You will get the manufacturing date of your Samsung device along with some other information.

use samsung imei to check date of manufacture

IMEICheck also lets you perform a Samsung warranty check and gives you information about the Samsung mobile manufacturing country or the country of origin. Such information can help you a lot if you are going to buy a second-hand phone or tablet. If you are from the USA or Canada, you can check the warranty of your Samsung phone from their warranty information page.

3. Check Samsung Mobile Manufacturing Date Using Code

You must be aware of Android secret codes that let you get information about your Android device and perform diagnostic tests. You can use one of the Samsung secret codes to check the manufacturing date of a Samsung mobile or Galaxy Tab. This is the quickest way to know the very date your phone’s hardware was assembled and software was loaded on it.

Open the Phone app and dial *#12580*369#.

`samsung hardware info secret code

On the next screen, check out the RF Cal (Radio Frequency Calibration) section and you will find the manufacturing date of your Samsung device mentioned in front of it. Besides, the screen will also tell you about the BL, AP, CP, and CSC versions.samsung phone manufacturing date

If you own an old Samsung device released prior to 2017, the above secret code might not work. In that case, you should try *#197328640#* or *#*#197328640#*#*. When you see the Service Mode menu, tap on Version Info. On the next screen, select Hardware or HW Version and tap on Read CAL Date. You can find the date your Samsung device was manufactured using the code mentioned above.

4. Using Device Info Apps

Finally, there’s another way to check the serial number, IMEI, manufacturing date, and other technical information about Android devices. You can find a bunch of apps in the Google Play Store that can give you all the possible information about your Samsung Android phone or tablet. You can install one of the following apps to know how old your phone is and check Samsung mobile manufacturing country.

device info app android

Checking the Activation Date of Android Devices

If you are looking for a way to check the mobile activation date of your Samsung device by IMEI, there is an easy way. If you have purchased a used smartphone, the previous user must have wiped all his data and logged out of his Google account. In that case, you won’t be able to check the date on which the phone was activated first. However, if you are the real owner of the device, you can find out the unboxing date of any Android mobile or tablet.

  1. Open the Google Play Store settings page on your mobile or desktop browser.
  2. Scroll down to My Devices. Here, you’ll see the Android devices registered to your Google account.

    check mobile activation date at play store

    Android mobile activation date

  3. Zoom in on the screen if you find the text illegible and swipe (from right to left) on the area that shows the device details to see the date when you first registered or activated your Samsung mobile or Galaxy Tab. By tapping on the Edit button, you can change the Android device name to your liking.

I am sure this tutorial would have helped you check the manufacturing date of your Samsung mobile or Galaxy Tab, its serial number, warranty status, the manufacturing country, and the activation date.

Read Next: Uninstall System Apps on Samsung Devices without Root

11 thoughts on “4 Ways to Check Manufacturing Date of Samsung Devices”

  1. Thanks for all the information, it is very useful. Do you know when Samsung updates its Production Date Table ?, to know the 4th character of the serial number that will indicate that the a device has been manufactured in 2021.

    1. Well, we are still in 2020 and it’ll be a hypothetical thing to predict what character they’ll pick to represent 2021. However, given their pattern, I guess it will be ‘V’.

      1. Thank you very much for your answer Rakesh, I will be waiting for the character update. Initially I thought it could be “O” but analyzing the table and your comment, it seems to me that since 2007 Samsung has avoided using vowels, I suppose that is the reason for guessing that the character used will be “V”, right?. Again, I appreciate all the information you have provided us.

          1. Hi Rakesh, happy new year, I was just looking for an update of the manufacturing table of Samsung phones that will be manufactured in 2021, specifically about the character will represent year 2021, by chance, do you have updated information about it that you can share with us?

  2. Very nice and detailed article, however only identifying manufacturing date does NOT reveal that the phone is either new or refurbished. The phone may be just brand new but it might have stored in its original box for a long time as is, without any modification. I wrote this because many people are trying to make sure whether their phone is new or refurbished by deciphering manufacturing date which is incorrect.

  3. Lots of useful information.
    But clear my doubt.
    The example shown imei check in the above article , shows the country as India, but production location is shown as brazil seda, which I think is located at brazil country.
    Could you give some explanation to it.
    Next, google or google play trick would not work if the phone has been hard reset to factory. please clarify.
    Really you have gone deep in to the samsung year, and I also had a samsung phone, of india , as you have said i checked R and checked the month of manufacture day is correct as you say.
    I had to return the phone , as the phone was sold to me by repacking the box, and a sim already used by the imei no. As the warranty expires earlier than my purchase date, i have chosen to return.
    In this connection, I visited your page and knew something about smart phones

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