Many Samsung devices are still receiving Android Marshmallow as at the time of this writing. At the same time, Android Nougat has started rolling out to select Google Nexus devices, among them the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X.
The fact that some users of Samsung Galaxy phones and tablets are yet to receive Marshmallow doesn’t mean they aren’t thinking of when they will finally get to see the newer Android Nougat. Of course, with Nougat less than a day in the market, it is definitely too early to start talking about a Samsung Galaxy Android Nougat update. In fact, looking at recent stats, it could take another three months before we see a non-Nexus device that is powered by the new OS following an OTA update.
If the stats releases are anything to go by, users of Samsung Galaxy devices will be in for a shock. While the likes of Motorola, LG, and HTC devices have a better chance of landing the new Android Nougat update before this year ends, Samsung Galaxy owners could start seeing the update in 2017.
This is happening because of one major reason. When Google got the latest Android Nougat ready for rolling out to Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X devices, the search engine giant avails the update to its partner OEMs, with Samsung leading the way. Since Samsung Galaxy devices use a tweaked version of Android, the company takes some time running its own tests and adding the necessary tweaks courtesy of the TouchWiz UI so as to ensure that everything runs perfectly and smoothly. This, for sure, takes quite some time.
It was noted that Android Marshmallow took up to three months before it hit Motorola and HTC devices. This is the period the companies needed to make these tweaks and run tests on the OS before pushing it to the public. Android Nougat should go through the same process, meaning Samsung Galaxy users shouldn’t get their hopes too high.
Still, an XDA Developers forum member made an interesting discovery as far as Samsung Galaxy Android Nougat update is concerned. There are some updates that will come to the new Samsung Galaxy Note 7 as far as the S-Pen is concerned. Users of the curved dual-edge models starting with the Galaxy S6 Edge all through to the Galaxy Note 7 should also expect to see some improvements.
Other Samsung Galaxy devices that are guaranteed to see Android Nougat when it is ready are Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge as well as last year’s Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6 Edge+, and the standard Galaxy S6. Even though the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy S5 are still capable devices, Samsung could leave them out due to their age, still, anything is possible.
Earlier reports had pointed towards a Q4 2016 Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Android Nougat release. Now that the public version is out, it seems viable that indeed this handset will be updated to this new OS before the year ends. However, Samsung says this will only happen once it has made enough tests to ensure that the OS works perfectly.