Samsung announced earlier this week that Android 6.0 will be rolling out to the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge and other Galaxy devices in the coming weeks. It was a welcome announcement, but it also got us thinking: Why did the release of the newest version of Android for existing devices come just a week before Samsung's latest flagships are set to be unveiled? The answer is pretty clear we guess, and it's a tradition that the company has followed for a long time now.
At a time when smaller manufacturers like HTC and Motorola are rushing out software updates (if only in certain markets) without making consumers wait for months on end just so they can announce newer smartphones, Samsung is disappointingly unwilling to change. Okay, so it did change a little by allowing users to take part in a beta testing program, but even that was limited to just two markets around the world.
To say Samsung's software is huge and needs to be tested would be an overstatement. HTC's software isn't the lightest out there either, but the Taiwanese manufacturer manages to complete everything from porting to testing in a matter of weeks. With Samsung's resources, doing the same (or even doing it faster) shouldn't be a problem. It just looks like the Korean giant is unwilling to roll out software updates to an existing flagship before the next one gets announced.
There's no guarantee that the next major version of Android that comes along later this year will come to the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge before the Galaxy S8 goes official, just like the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+ and the Galaxy Note 5 are still waiting for Marshmallow. Which brings us to the question of the day: Does Samsung's software update policy affect your purchasing decision of the company's new flagships? Not just the Galaxy S7, which will be hogging all the limelight in the next couple of months, but generally as well?
Let us know through the poll below, and do leave a comment with your thoughts on the matter.
