Opinion: Samsung is fast fitting the Android update king

unless recently, the phrases "Samsung" and "well timed updates" have been never uttered in the identical sentence, except you have been emphasizing the contradiction between them. The Korean behemoth had a respectable, albeit very leisurely update schedule, pushing Android users who valued instantaneous entry to safety patches and new elements away. With Android 10, issues modified enormously, and Samsung has been impressing us more and more, with each main OTA rollouts and month-to-month security patches. no matter if it be due to a special approach, new crew or leadership, Android's project Treble, or some magical potion, Samsung is quickly fitting the OEM to beat for Android updates and we can't help however applaud its recent efforts.

Tangibly faster rollouts of new Android versions

to look where Samsung got here from and the way quick it turned around, it helps to appear on the last three years of Android updates and compare how the company dealt with them. The adjustments will develop into tons extra apparent then.

Android 8.0 Oreo for the S8, Note8, S7

Android Oreo become officially launched via Google on August 21, 2017. It took Samsung seventy two days to unlock the primary Oreo beta for the S8, its most contemporary flagship at the time. The strong version failed to roll out unless a great deal later, mid-February, and even extended to may for some operator versions.

As for the word eight, which turned into announced just two days after Oreo and become for that reason first released with Nougat, we did not get a reliable Android Oreo build unless March. Some operators took their candy time with the update too, stretching it to may also.

should still we dare lift the query of the old flagship technology's update, we might see that it took approach, way, method longer for the S7 to get its sweet Oreo deal with. the primary indications confirmed up on may 1, 2018, however some editions didn't get it except July 24, almost a full 12 months after Android eight.0 became released.

As for the Note7, smartly, it did not deserve to get up to date — remember?

That excruciatingly gradual update schedule is what many people used to criticize Samsung for, however fortunately, issues did alternate for the more desirable.

Android 9.0 Pie for the S9, Note9, S8, Note8

For Android Pie, which was officially released on August 6, Samsung pressed the quickly-forward button and accelerated most of its OTAs.

Its most fresh flagship on the time, the Galaxy S9, took just a little longer to get its first beta on November 15, but every thing speeded up after that. The professional update got here on December 24, approach ahead of the S8's February Oreo replace the old year.

The Note9 bought a Pie beta on December 5 and a strong liberate on January four. Even essentially the most delayed Note9 versions didn't surpass March, which, if you scroll again up, is when the Note8 had simply begun receiving Oreo in the previous cycle.

both the S8 and note bought invited into the Pie beta reasonably directly, in January, and only had to wait a month except February for the sturdy update to roll out. here is a far cry from the may-June-July dates we saw the old year.

however, despite the notable improvement with Pie, house owners of Samsung's flagship telephones were still 5 to eight months of extend earlier than getting a new edition of Android on their instruments. The Korean company might undoubtedly do stronger.

Android 10 for the S10, Note10, S9, word 9

If Pie's free up turned into a fast-forward button press, Android 10's would be a nitro-raise mode. Samsung pushed the fuel pedal and decimated its choicest numbers in recent months.

Google formally released Android 10 later than normal within the yr, on September 3 to be precise. nonetheless, it best took Samsung 41 days to offer the first beta for its flagship S10. That become launched on October 24, followed with the aid of a sequence of brief updates until the stable edition landed the subsequent month on November 28. compared to the years prior, this is when we'd nonetheless be in the first or 2d beta section, at premiere.

The Note10 saw the same Sonic-inspired beta and good unencumber schedule: October 25 and December 13, respectively.

So despite the late legitimate Android 10 unencumber, Samsung managed to get its two most recent flagships up to date before the end of the 12 months, with some room to spare. Even most US carrier and unlocked editions, which were at all times specifically last to get the OTA have already acquired it, and we're barely in February.

things have been even sooner for older flagships. The S9 and Note9 received their beta in November, then their good in January and December, respectively — and that comprises a few carrier variants too.

quicker-than-Pixel monthly patches

it's a well-known indisputable fact that Google releases its Pixel protection patches on the first Monday of every month. On definite months, that occurs to be the first day, however on others it finally ends up being the seventh. other Android OEMs are under no obligation to observe that self-imposed time table, which ability that they could roll month-to-month patches as quickly as they have got them, sometimes along with Google (like elementary) and even previous. we've got considered the latter occur a number of times, however it's frequently been an exception rather than the guideline.

In recent months, Samsung has lapped all and sundry, including the Pixels, on a couple of event. i'm not announcing this in a dig at Google, but as a testament to the Korean massive's valiant efforts.

looking lower back at our Android Police suggestions inbox, i can see emails telling us the S10+ acquired the November patch on November 3 and the Note8 received the December patch on December 2. Even superior, devices in the Android 10 beta obtained the November patch while we were still in October. The same took place for the December patch in November, and this at a time when Google was alarmingly struggling to push Pixel safety patches.

things failed to decelerate in January, with Samsung starting its protection patch rollout on the 2d day of the month, and we have considered an identical style in February. We're still the fifth and have already spotted protection patches for the S10, Note10, Note9, A50, and Tab S3 in a variety of countries and on assorted operators.

This Samsung is definitely distinctive from the company that used to roll out a December patch in March for my Galaxy S7 just a few years ago. it be even on par if no longer faster than primary, OnePlus, and Nokia, three organizations we used to laud for his or her quickly updates. i am now not going to cry victory simply yet, and that i'd like to see greater proof over the following few months, nonetheless it's fitting more and more more convenient to recommend Samsung contraptions, even to people that are sticklers about updates.

Three years of steady improvements

Samsung is the biggest Android company, that is a truth. It releases dozens of new telephones each year, including dissimilar variants of the identical device with diverse RAM and storage configurations, twin-SIM or single-SIM, 5G and no 5G, and Exynos or Snapdragon processors. that is not to point out all of the distinct operator certifications these contraptions should flow via and the entire nations they need to ship in. The assignment of conserving all of those up so far is gargantuan, and the company became poised to fail from the start, just below the sheer extent of the job.

And yet, or not it's past evident that Samsung has performed its homework and found an Android update components that works, regardless of all the obstacles in its approach. It took eleven months for the S7 to be updated to Oreo. With Android 10, that went down to 4 months for the S9. it really is the best quantity you deserve to be aware; it's a superb indicator of the progress we now have seen.

We suspect venture Treble had some thing to do with this magical turn-round, nonetheless it do not need made a dent on its own if Samsung wasn't putting its most suitable foot ahead. simply examine LG or Motorola: we have now heard their empty guarantees for quicker updates for years, with no tangible improvement to speak of.

issues can nonetheless get better for Samsung notwithstanding, and we're all rooting for it to preserve dashing up its procedures. probably with Android 11 we could see an official beta in below a month and all four flagships up-to-date earlier than the end of 2020. on the price or not it's going, this would not look too some distance-fetched.