There have been four major releases of S60: "Series 60" (2001), "Series 60 Second Edition" (2003), "Series 60 3rd Edition" (2005) and "S60 5th Edition" (2008).

In S60 1st Edition, the devices' display resolution was fixed to 176x208. Since 2nd Edition Feature Pack 3, S60 supports multiple resolutions, i.e. Basic (176x208), and Double (352x416). Nokia N90 was the first S60 device to support a higher resolution (352x416). Some devices, however, have non-standard resolutions, like the Siemens SX1, with 176x220. Nokia 5500 Sport has a 208x208 screen resolution, and the Nokia E90 with its wide 800x352 inner display.

It is noteworthy that software written for S60 1st Edition (S60v1) or 2nd Edition (S60v2) is not binary-compatible with S60 3rd Edition (S60v3), because it uses a new, hardened version of Symbian OS (v9.1), which has mandatory code signing. In S60v3, a user can't just install any program, unless it has a certificate from a registered developer, or the user disables that feature.

In 2006, a "Designed for S60 Devices" logo program for developers was launched. The logotype can be used with conforming programs (Symbian or Java).

In 2007, an accreditation scheme that tests the ability of developers to use S60 effectively was launched. The scheme is run by Majinate, who also run the Accredited Symbian Developer scheme. The accreditation requires developers to pass two on-line exams: one in Symbian OS, the other in S60. This leads to recognition as an "Accredited S60 Developer".

In October 2008, S60 5th Edition was launched. (Nokia decided to move from 3rd Edition directly to 5th Edition "as a polite gesture to Asian customers"[1] because the number four means bad luck in some Asian cultures.) The major feature of 5th Edition is support for high-resolution 640x360 touchscreens; before 5th Edition, all S60 devices had a button-based user interface. S60 5th Edition also integrates standard C/C++ APIs and includes Adobe Flash Lite 3.0 with S60-specific ActionScript extensions that give Flash Lite developers access to phone features like contacts, text messaging, sensors and device location information (GPS).