Samsung is gearing up to launch the Galaxy S10 series later this month. But amidst this pre-launch bustle and rampage in form of leaks, the company has not forgotten its older devices. The four-year-old Samsung Galaxy S6 is still being updated and it sure feels like an exception among the usual crowd of Android devices.
As per SamMobile, the UAE variants of the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge have received Google's security patches from January 2019. These software updates bear versions G920FXXU6ESA1 and G925FXXU6ESA1 for the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge respectively and are based on Android 7.0 Nougat.
The previous update, which came in November of last year, was expected to be the last one for the 2015 flagships. But, the latest update comes as a pleasant surprise, especially since Samsung removed the Galaxy S6 from its update schedule page. It also kindles hope for more updates for the two smartphones in the near future.
Notably, Samsung flagships in most regions across the world are powered by its own line of Exynos processors. In contrast, their variants sold in the U.S. and Hong Kong use flagship-grade Snapdragon SoCs from Qualcomm. This implies two things, broadly. First, since Samsung itself is the maker of Exynos chipsets, it enjoys the liberty to provide extended support to its devices without being dependent on third parties such as Qualcomm. Second, Samsung Galaxy S6 units in all other regions have a higher chance of receiving this and other future updates as compared to the units in the U.S. and Hong Kong.
While relatively newer devices including the Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge, and Galaxy S7 Active are currently destined to receive monthly security updates, extended support for the Galaxy S6 feeds expectations about the Galaxy S7 series getting updates until next year. Further, since Samsung is providing up to two incremental OS updates for certain Galaxy J-series devices, we can hope for it to provide three for flagships like the Galaxy S7 trio.
Lastly, while we hope that this update reaches Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge units in other regions, there is no clarity if and when that will happen.