Android 6.0 Marshmallow has been available since October; however, major manufacturers like Samsung have yet to begin rolling out the latest operating system some of its flagship devices. The Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, will ship with Android 6.0, when they release March 11; but devices including the Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, and Galaxy S6 Edge have not been updated, despite several software leaks in late 2015.
However, a leaked Android 6.0 roadmap, recently shared by Phone Arena , suggests Samsung’s four 2015 flagships will receive a system update within the month of March. The devices are supposedly a part of Samsung’s phase one of android 6.0 updates, which also includes updates for the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge in April, updates for the Galaxy S5, the Galaxy Tab S2 (8-inch and 9.7-inch) in May and updates for the Galaxy Alpha in June. After that, devices including the Galaxy A7 will update during Samsung’s phase two of Android 6.0 rollouts.
While unconfirmed by Samsung, this timeline does seem plausible. It is customary for Android updates to start for older devices, once the latest flagship has hit the market. However, the Android 6.0 update for the Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, and Galaxy S6 Edge will likely be slow. It will likely being with international unlocked devices, then carrier models Europe and Asia, before finally hitting unlocked devices in the U.S. Then the U.S. carriers will begin sending out their software. So it could still be weeks or months before Android 6.0 hits U.S. devices.
Still, leaks of such timelines are hopeful. Samsung is among manufacturers that are working to clean up clunky manufacturer skins that run over Android to facilitate faster update cycles.
