Shortly before the end of 2016, Samsung unexpectedly announced the immediate end of its Galaxy Beta Program, saying that it hoped to release the Android 7.0 update for its newest flagship phones in January. Last week, it began a small-scale deployment - a "soak test" - to an extremely limited number of Galaxy S7 and S7 edge handsets.
It seems the results of that early deployment were successful, as SamMobile reports that the company has now begun the general rollout of its Nougat update.
Samsung is upgrading the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge to Android 7.0, which was originally released by Google almost five months ago. Since then, Google has released the newer Android 7.1.1 update, but Samsung hasn"t discussed any plans to make that version available to its devices, and it"s still unclear when other phones and tablets in its range will be upgraded to Android 7.0.
The Nougat update now rolling out includes the latest Android security patches for January. Bear in mind that manufacturers tend to deploy major updates like this one in "waves", so it may be some time before all Galaxy S7 and S7 edge handsets are upgraded to Android 7.0.
Those who purchased their devices from carriers may also face a lengthy wait for the update to arrive, as mobile network operators are notoriously slow at approving updates for their devices. Last year, for example, AT&T didn"t update the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge to Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow until three months after Samsung made the update available.
Source: SamMobile