The Galaxy J series has long been important for Samsung, especially in emerging markets where the company sees huge sales figures for Galaxy J smartphones. But while both flagship and mid-range Galaxy phones have been receiving two major Android OS updates for many years, owners of Galaxy J series phones have only been extended the courtesy of one such update. That might change this year, though, with the Galaxy J7 (2016).
Two big OS upgrades for J series phones could soon become reality
The first indication that the Galaxy J7 (2016) would be updated to Oreo came from Samsung's Members app. The app has a constantly updated schedule for many Galaxy devices, offering time frames for when they might receive the Oreo update. Now, Samsung Turkey has also listed the J7 (2016) as being eligible for Oreo. Samsung Turkey did turn out to be wrong with its prediction that the original Galaxy J5 would be updated to Android Nougat, but with the Samsung Members app also mentioning the 2016 Galaxy J7 variant as eligible for Oreo, there's a chance Samsung will actually start providing two major updates to the Galaxy J series devices.
Unfortunately, there's no way to be certain about when the update will arrive. The Samsung Members app had initially posted a March 2019 release date for the Galaxy J7 (2016) Oreo update and currently says the update could arrive in November (at least in India). Samsung also isn't mentioning the Galaxy J5 (2016) in the eligibility list. So either the J7 (2016) will be removed from the list as well or Samsung is making up to J7 (2016) owners for leaving their device on Android 7.0 and only releasing Android 7.1.1 for the J5 (2016). We will just have to wait and see.
