Seven years after it overtook Nokia, Samsung still retains its lead as the world's largest smartphone OEM. Despite always being a hardware stalwart, Samsung took longer than expected to bring its software experience on par with others, but this situation is improving slowly. A bunch of Samsung smartphones - including Galaxy S8/S8+, Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy S9/S9+, Galaxy Note 9 - have already received the cleaner and improved One UI interface based on Android 9 Pie while 24 other mid-range devices will be getting it later during the year. For devices that will not be getting to taste Pie, Samsung is assuring regular security updates. In the meantime, it has pushed older devices such as the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge off its monthly update bandwagon and is moving them to a quarterly update schedule.

Samsung Galaxy S7 XDA forumsSamsung Galaxy S7 Edge XDA forums

In its latest security roadmap, Samsung has noted that three years after their launch, the Galaxy S7/S7 Edge will continue to receive security updates. The two devices have already received March's Google Security patch. But from now on, the Galaxy S7/S7 Edge will be getting a new security update only once in three months instead of one each month previously. Meanwhile, the latest Galaxy S10 lineup, Galaxy S7 Active, Galaxy S8/S8+/S8 Active, Galaxy S9/S9+, Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy Note 9 as well as the Galaxy A5 (2017) and the Galaxy A8(2018) will continue to receive monthly security updates.

Samsung has already excluded the Galaxy S7/S7 Edge from the list of its devices eligible for the Android Pie update, but the promise of security updates for at least another year can still be heart-warming for owners of these older Samsung flagships. Meanwhile, if you own either of the two devices and want to try out the latest One UI, senior XDA member Kill-Switch has ported the One UI ROM from a Galaxy Note FE for the Exynos variants of the two devices. The ROM is pretty stable and supports the features like the refreshed interface, system-wide dark theme, apps edge, update camera app, and the latest compliant app for the inbuilt heart-rate monitor.

Via: SamMobile

Update 1: Quarterly updates for Galaxy S7 ended

Samsung has pulled the Galaxy S7/S7 Edge out of its list of devices that are slated to get quarterly security updates. Now, the two devices fall under the category of those which will get only "Other Regular Security Updates."

Source: Samsung,Via: SamMobile

Update 2: Samsung has resumed quarterly security updates for the the Galaxy S7 series

In a rather surprising move, Samsung has re-added the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge to the list of devices that will get quarterly security updates. This restores the previous status that the devices held. It is unknown what prompted this move, but we are glad it happened. Hopefully, this also translates into an actual and timely update.

Source: Samsung, Via: Android Soul