A new T-Mobile Galaxy S9 firmware update is rolling out to those who have already received this handset. We reported yesterday that some T-Mobile customers who pre-ordered the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ are now receiving their units. The carrier is now rolling out a firmware update for the new flagship on its network which improves face unlock and camera stability.
It's not uncommon for carriers in the United States to ship out units ahead of the official release date. T-Mobile does that almost every year for new Samsung flagships so it wasn't surprising when one of our own team members received a shipment notification for his device several days before the official March 16 release date.
T-Mobile Galaxy S9 update
Multiple people have reported receiving this T-Mobile Galaxy S9 update on Reddit. The carrier is sending out firmware version G960/G965-USQU1ARBG for the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+ on its network. It weighs in at 259.99 MB and even though it's a fresh release, it doesn't seem to include the March 2018 security patch that has already been released for the G960/G965F models last week.
The changelog mentions that this T-Mobile Galaxy S9 update is going to improve the stability of the face unlock feature and the camera. The facial recognition functionality has been brought over from the Galaxy S8 and it's coupled with the iris scanner in this iteration for a new feature called Intelligence Scan.
The feature enables the Galaxy S9 to authenticate the user's identity by a combination of face recognition and iris scanning for improved results in cases where either one of the methods might struggle. Check out our Galaxy S9 review for more detail on the Intelligent Scan feature.
The new T-Mobile Galaxy S9 update hasn't been added to the carrier's software update page for the flagship just yet. It still mentions the G960/G965-USQUIARB7 firmware that the handset ships with in the box though it's likely that the page will be updated with the new firmware version once the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ are formally released on March 16.
