TechSpot notes that this round of updates, which come in fairly compact packages and don’t mention much in their descriptions, have brought older phones released between roughly 2014 and 2018 to life, even though they’ve long exceeded their initial official promises.
File photo (via Samsung)
If you are using the Vodafone version of Galaxy S5 Neon, as well as Galaxy Alpha, S6 / A7 series smartphones, you can now also manually check for updates.
The Galaxy S5 received the new firmware version number G903FXXU2BFG3, Galaxy S6 G92xFXXU6EVG1, and Galaxy Alpha / A7 G850FXXU2CVH9 and A750FXXU5CVG1.
Screenshot of this week’s Galaxy smartphone update (from: GalaxyClub.nl)
Although Samsung didn’t mention the exact content of the update and the specific reason for the decision to push it, it seems that this round of updates fixes GPS issues, and the Galaxy A7 update includes a security patch.
We don’t see the Galaxy A7 / S5 / S6 in the official list of those that can still receive security updates (instead, there are Galaxy S10 / Note 10 / A10 and other product lines covering 2019 onwards).
Screenshot of last week’s Galaxy S7 / S8 / Note 8 firmware update (via GalaxyClub.nl)
Usually, OEMs only go to the trouble of pushing out patch updates when there are serious security issues that could affect a large number of users. Last year, however, Samsung did promise to provide at least four years of security support for Galaxy smartphones.
By way of comparison, Apple recently released an iOS security update that even dates back to the iPhone 6s series released in 2015. Of course, compared to the Android camp, most Apple customers don’t always upgrade to the latest models.
