Update absurdity: Samsung's 2017 Galaxy A phones are still on Android 6
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This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.
However, these features can also be found on another series of Samsung phones introduced in the last 7 months and 21 days. Namely, we're talking about the company's A lineup and its three representatives for this year – the A3, A5, and A7.
Why is this important?
The 2017 A3 and A7 got a grade of 8/10 in our reviews, while the A5 was awarded a score of 8.5 - a testament to just how impressed our reviewers were when they got to try these mid-rangers out. Last but not least, the "A" in the Galaxy A series stands for the word "Alpha", which is another supposed big evidence of the lineup's standing in the Samsung smartphone hierarchy. Well, if that's the case, is it Alpha to cruise on a version of Android from 2015? To put the cherry on the cake, the older 2016 A series phones are actually on Android 7, which completely defies all logic.
Trying to answer the million-dollar question
If you want to completely dive into wild tin foil hat territory, consider this – the A lineup is not officially available in one of the biggest global markets – the USA. This could be due to the A5 and A7 providing a lot of the flagship pizzazz at a much lower price tag, so selling them stateside could undermine sales of the S series. However, the phones are available in Canada and Latin America and one can easily buy an unlocked GSM version on Amazon or any other big e-retailer, so Samsung might be delaying the update to make them less appealing to potential buyers. This speculation might be completely bonkers, but so is the entire situation.
"B-But the 2017 A series will get an update any time now"
Samsung also confirmed that the software upgrade is going to happen, but does that really change the fact that people who bought these smartphones have to wait so long to get it? Meanwhile, the situation on the security update front isn't that much better. For example, the A3 received its very first Android security patch at the end of June and it had the fixes for the month of May.
And finally, we mustn't forget that Android O is just around the corner, so what happens then? Will consumers have to wait till next year for that?
Things that are NOT allowed: