Samsung Galaxy flagships to receive monthly software updates

Samsung is all-set to provide monthly software updates for a range of Galaxy series flagship devices. The updates will be designed to fix major security and privacy issues.

The list of Galaxy devices that will receive monthly software updates includes the latest Galaxy S series smartphones, Galaxy Note series phablets and Galaxy Tab series tablets. Although, Samsung has limited the updates to high-end Galaxy series devices, it has confirmed the monthly updates would be extended to other models in the coming future.

Mentioned below are the devices that are eligible for the monthly software updates:

• Samsung Galaxy S5
• Samsung Galaxy S6
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
• Samsung Galaxy Note 5
• Samsung Note edge
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S2

Unlike regular updates, the South Korean technology giant has said, the monthly updates would include patches for Android OS-related security issues released by Google, and company-specific issues. Hence, users can expect bugs like the recently emerged Stagefright, would be fixed on Galaxy series devices.

"At Samsung, we take security and privacy issues very seriously and we are doing our best to respond as quickly as possible. Securing your device and maintaining the trust you place in us is our top priority," the company wrote in a blog post.

The updates will be available via over-the-air (OTA) mechanism, but their release may depend on regions and carriers.

The announcement comes a couple of months after Google said it would release regular Android updates for the Nexus series devices. The search giant said that it was notifying Android OEMs every month to fix security issues. Nexus devices are the ones that receive major security patches for over the longer period of three years from initial availability or 18 months from last sale via the Play Store.

Following the announcement, Samsung implemented a new Android security update process, to fast track its security patches after receiving vulnerability reports.