Samsung and Verizon continue to shine with their fast and wide Android 12 updates
After finally unveiling the (once) highly anticipated and oft-delayed Galaxy S21 FE 5G earlier this week, Samsung continues to garner attention and praise largely thanks to older devices released in 2021, 2020, and even 2019.
That's because the world's number one smartphone vendor is out there doing an unrivaled job of spreading the Android 12 and One UI 4.0 love across its high, and starting yesterday, mid-end product portfolios. Of course, in order to ensure all users can get a relatively early taste of the newest Android version in its stable form, the tech giant also needs to work closely with wireless service providers around the world.
That's not always easy work given the specific requirements, optimizations, and yes, proprietary apps and UI tweaks of certain industry-leading mobile network operators like, say, Verizon, and yet somehow it's precisely Big Red that's managed to kick off the first US carrier-specific Android 12 rollouts for the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 5G before the end of last year.
With that in mind, it shouldn't exactly be shocking to hear that Verizon has started the new year by delivering the same game-changing update to its version of both the Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra 5G ahead of the competition.
The OS promotions unsurprisingly include Google's December 2021 security patches rather than the latest batch of such essential enhancements released by the search giant for (some of) its Pixel devices this Tuesday.
For its part, Samsung is reportedly rolling out all those Android 12-based One UI 4 upgrades and improvements highlighted several months back to US unlocked models of the Note 20, Note 20 Ultra, Z Fold 3, and Z Flip 3 5G as well.
While it still definitely feels a little weird to see a couple of carrier-exclusive updates released before the same exact OS promotions are delivered to unlocked phones stateside, Samsung appears to have made great progress on the latter front, no longer keeping users waiting weeks on end for equal treatment.
In addition to Verizon, Comcast and Xfinity Mobile are also sending official Android 12 goodies to their customers as we speak, putting the ball squarely in T-Mobile and AT&T's court.
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