Samsung hasn't said anything about the Galaxy S9 Android 9 Pie yet even though some of its rivals have detailed their roadmaps for the next major platform update. However, it appears that the company may have started testing the update for its first flagship smartphone of the year internally.
This won't really come as a surprise to many. It would actually be surprising if the company hadn't started working on the update by now. If history is any indication, the Galaxy S9 will indeed be the first device that Samsung updates to Android 9.0 Pie.
Galaxy S9 Android 9 Pie update
We mentioned in our Samsung Galaxy Android 9.0 Pie update preview that the Galaxy S9 will be first in line for the latest iteration of Google's mobile platform. The same holds true for the Galaxy S9+ as well.
Some circumstantial evidence of the Galaxy S9 Android 9 Pie update test has now surfaced in the form of a GFXBench listing. The Galaxy S9+ (SM-G965F) has actually been spotted on the benchmarking website running Android 9.0.
It's pertinent to mention here that the first evidence of Oreo being tested for the Galaxy S8 surfaced in September last year. So this sighting for the Galaxy S9 with Android 9 isn't particularly early. As it stands, there's little reason to believe that the Galaxy S9 will receive Android Pie earlier than the Galaxy S8 received Oreo.
The GFXBench listing mentions that this model is running an “Invalid Android Samsung ss Edition.” That's just how the test variants of Samsung's custom skin are labeled in the benchmarks, we have seen this many times in the past as well. Even though benchmark listings can easily be faked, it's certainly within the realm of possibility that Samsung has started working on the Android 9 update for the Galaxy S9.
When Samsung intends to release the Galaxy S9 Android 9 Pie update is another matter altogether. The company is yet to confirm a roadmap. It may launch a beta program as it has in the past but that may not happen for a couple of months at least.