Android Nougat 7.0 release date, updates: Samsung Galaxy S7 getting new version some time soon?

The Samsung Galaxy S7 and the S7 Edge are shown in this photo. Leaked images suggest that the current-gen flagship is set to receive the Android Nougat 7.0 update soon.Reuters/Albert Gea

With Google already confirming an Android Nougat 7.1 update during the Pixel launch, third-party tech makers are likely to receive the previous Android Nougat 7.0 version update soon. One of the flagships said to receive an imminent update is the Samsung Galaxy S7.

According to SamMobile, the current-generation Samsung Galaxy S7 flagship seems to be one of the recent releases to receive an early update to Android 7.0 Nougat. The iteration was already reportedly seen on benchmark websites running a full version of the Android Nougat platform. This means that the Nougat development for the Galaxy S7 is already in its final testing stages, and fans are likely to receive the OTA notification for the update soon.

Previously, Samsung is one of the third-party tech makers that promised to have an Android Nougat update earlier than expected, as early as late 2016. However, most fans are not taking stock on this announcement. In terms of previous updates, most third-party tech manufacturers, as well as mobile carriers, have been late in getting updates for previous Android platform versions. Usually, Google first rolls out an Android version update to its own Nexus lineups before releasing the needed source files to third parties. However, this is where the bottleneck starts. Most third-party makers like Samsung only use the source files as templates and make their own Android version from the ground up. This then leads to long update cycles.

However, Google has changed its update cycles for Android Nougat. Instead of a one-time release, the tech giant managed to come out with a number of consistent preview builds and released the source files for the Android 7.0 version earlier than expected. Because of the timely release, Samsung and other tech makers then managed to build their own version of the Android Nougat platform — complete with bloatware — much earlier.

Meanwhile, although Samsung may already have the final full version of Android Nougat 7.0 on the Galaxy S7, the tech giant has yet to come out with a rollout schedule. However, the supposed leaks hint that it will come out soon.