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Samsung’s Galaxy S6 series marked a turning point for Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S line, and now it seems that family will also have the honor of being the first Galaxy S phones to get three years of support from Samsung, if reports of a planned update to Android 8.0 (Oreo) are true. Reddit user CyberConCoder reportedly spoke with a Samsung representative about the matter, and was told that there will be an Oreo update for the aging flagship. The Samsung representative who gave them the information claimed to have spoken with a supervisor about it, and was confident enough in the information to directly authorize CyberConCoder to share it with the Reddit community.
In the chats, which can be seen below, the Samsung representative starts out shaky on the information, but seems to consult their supervisor early on in the conversation. From then on, the representative is completely confident that the Samsung Galaxy S6 will be getting Oreo in the future, though no ETA can be provided. Naturally, this likely also means that the Galaxy S6 Edge and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus will be getting the same update, since they run the same hardware and have almost no software-level differences from the normal Galaxy S6. When CyberConCoder asks if this level of support will become Samsung’s new policy, the representative dodges the question. This could simply mean that the representative couldn’t get a straight answer from their supervisor, or the Galaxy S6 could actually be popular enough to warrant further support completely on its own merits, a feat that the super-popular Galaxy S5 likely could not replicate due to its 32-bit processor limiting its ability to take advantage of modern software features.
If the Galaxy S6 does indeed end up getting Oreo, it would be the first time that a Samsung phone has ever seen three years of major Android updates. Many older Samsung devices are still getting security patches, especially in markets where they were extremely popular, but major updates are out of the question at this point for devices from early 2015 and older, which are out of the standard 18-month support period. The Galaxy S6 and its cousins were extremely popular and lucrative devices for Samsung, and established a premium aesthetic that was a breath of fresh air from the company’s previous plastic efforts. If any older Samsung phones are worth supporting for longer than usual, those are very suitable candidates. Thus far, similar news concerning other Samsung devices of similar age has not come to light. If this does become the new normal for Samsung, owners of this year’s Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8 series can most likely expect to see major Android updates all the way to whatever Android Q will be.
