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Samsung is now distributing its proprietary implementation of Android 8.0 Oreo to the unlocked variant of the Galaxy A5 (2017) identified by the model number SM-A520F, with several users from Russia reporting they have received the update earlier this week, as seen in the screenshots below. While the company’s firmware upgrades are always gradual affairs and take at least several weeks to be introduced on a global level, it’s still unclear whether the new software is presently only being rolled out in the transcontinental country or if Samsung is already making it available in other markets as well. One source claimed the update also debuted in Romania several days back but provided no proof to back those claims. The over-the-air package is over 1.2GB in size and ships with the March security patch, as per the same reports.
The move to Android 8.0 Oreo marks the final major operating system jump the Galaxy A5 (2017) series will make over its official product lifespan, with the series in question being introduced in January of 2017 with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow before being upgraded to Android 7.0 Nougat-based Samsung Experience 8.0 in the second half of the last year. The new software package introduces Samsung Experience 9.0 which is similar to the firmware running on Samsung’s latest flagships such as the Galaxy S9 family.
Samsung has been beefing up its software support practices in recent years, especially in the entry-level and mid-range segments of the market, though the company still depends on its wireless carrier partners to push out patches in a timely manner. Outside of those price brackets, all Galaxy-branded flagships released since 2015 have been coming with the promise of at least two major OS upgrades and three years’ worth of security patches. Samsung is expected to launch an Android P beta program for owners of the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus in late 2018, with Google’s OS itself being scheduled to hit the stable channel in the third quarter of the year.
