Samsung starts Android 10 update at a record pace: Only three months late
The Samsung Galaxy S10. [credit: Ron Amadeo ]
Samsung is starting the slow and arduous process of updating its flagship smartphone to the latest version of Android: Android 10. This is just the beginning of the Android 10 rollout for Samsung, which, according to tracking from SamMobile, starts with Exynos-powered Galaxy S10s in European and Asian countries, including Germany, South Korea, the UK, India, Poland, and Spain.
Android 10 came out on September 3, and with the first devices landing the update on November 28, Samsung took 86 days to begin to roll out stable builds of Android 10 across its user base. Samsung still has a long way to go to release Android 10 to everyone with a Galaxy S10, though. Devices in Europe, Africa, and most of Asia ship with a Samsung Exynos SoC, while devices in North America, South America, and China ship with a Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC. So far, only the Exynos units have gotten the update.
If Samsung follows last year's update timing, it will need another 40 days before its devices in the US get the update, which requires both a Qualcomm build of Samsung's software along with approval and "validation" meddling from US carriers. Samsung's direct "unlocked" customers get the worst end of the update stick and typically get the update last. In 2018, unlocked customers had to wait 55 days after the first rollout to get the update. For the record, Samsung's roadmap lists "January" as the Android 10 update timeframe for the Galaxy S10, but that does not specify SoC or carrier concerns.
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