The Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+, launched in early 2017, received the final update in May 2021. The company has now released another update for both the smartphones. According to a report, the changelog for firmware G95*FXXUCDVG4 says “GPS stability has been improved” and that’s about it. That doesn’t seem like enough for a 420MB download size, but if there were any other fixes, they weren’t important enough to mention.
The update seems to be aimed at fixing GPS related bugs, as the phone will stay on Android 9 with security patches from April 1, 2021. Report by GSM Arena. However, the handsets, which are now 5.5 years old, are outside their scheduled software update window.
The GPS fix appears to be the same as the one shipped to Galaxy J7 phones in Asia. The J7 is from 2015. Also, these may not be the only older phones to be updated, reported GSM Arena.
According to A Report Through GalaxyClub, many older phones including the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S9 are getting updates.
Unlike the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+, neither of these smartphones is on the official list of supported phones; The Galaxy S10 in 2019 is still the oldest S-series handset to receive regular updates, on a quarterly schedule, while the Galaxy S10 Lite is still on a monthly schedule.
Samsung supports its flagship smartphones by providing four major OS updates and five years of security patches, but the company’s new commitment only covers handsets launched in 2021 or later. Older devices including the S10 series and the Galaxy A and M series are getting 4 years of security updates based on the company’s update policy.
