One of the biggest pressing concerns with the Android operating system, in general, is the lack of guaranteed updates after some time. The device you paid nearly $600 for two years ago is very often rendered obsolete, thanks to the manufacturer dropping support for it. However, some companies still do roll out regular updates, but at the end, you're left at the mercy of the manufacturer. Samsung has fared better than most manufacturers in that regard and still rolls out regular security updates to older and budget devices.
The Samsung Galaxy S6; released two years ago, was Samsung's comeback into the premium smartphone market, as the previous Galaxy S5's sales numbers were bad, to say the least. The device received a major software update to Android Nougat 7.0, and Samsung did promise an update to Android Oreo, but it may be a long time before we see that.
Samsung has a system in place, which determines how often a device receives updates. There is a list of the phones and tablets that will get patches and how often those patches will be rolled out. Not all devices listed in the table get updates as frequently as they're supposed to and it serves only as a guideline. There's a "monthly" section and another for "quarterly." The monthly section is populated by flagship devices such as the Galaxy S and Note series and some Galaxy A series devices. Everything else is delegated to the quarterly section.
On account of being a flagship device, the Galaxy S6 series occupied a spot in the monthly update section. However, according to today's update, it's gone from the list altogether and its nowhere to be found, even in the quarterly updates section. People still using a Galaxy S6 will be stuck with the security patches it currently has. Here's an updated list of devices and how often they'll receive updates.
The only hope for Galaxy S6 users to get a security update is with the Oreo update. It's good to see the Galaxy Note 5 on the list.
News Source: Samsung
