There are hints surfacing that Samsung may begin updating its smartphones to Android 9 Pie in early 2019. Moderators in an official Samsung community for French users have suggested several times that Samsung will begin its Android Pie rollout in January, according to SamMobile.
While still unconfirmed by Samsung, such a timeline seems valid, considering the manufacturer’s previous update trends. Samsung often starts sending out updates to the latest Android software not long before its early-year flagships are announced around February or March. Rumors about the Galaxy S10 have begun to pick up recently, with the device likely being Samsung’s first to run Android Pie out of the box.
The Galaxy Note 9 and Galaxy S9 will likely be among the first devices to update to Android Pie, followed by the Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy S8. Other devices, including many from the Galaxy A and Galaxy C lines should update as well. Samsung’s Android Pie updates could easily span throughout the entirety of 2019, depending on the models and carriers of devices.
While Google has introduced initiatives, such as Project Treble to encourage OEMS to roll out Android updates faster, larger manufacturers, including Samsung may still lag behind due to their dedication to developing custom branded skins that run on top of Android software. Samsung devices run the Samsung Experience overlay, formerly known as TouchWiz. The skin is infamous for being excessively developed away from the look and function of stock Android.
Samsung has improved its custom skins by limiting the duplicated versions of standard applications already found on Android. However, the manufacturer has added more of is own custom software, such as the AI assistant, Bixby. This may contribute to the extra time taken to develop and integrate Samsung Experience features into the new Android software.
Some features expected for Samsung’s Android Pie update include tweaks to the swipe to type function to simplify inputting phone numbers, VoLTE and VoWiFi support for the second SIM of the dual-SIM model devices, and a number of updates to the gallery and camera apps.
