14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung has decided to abandon the Galaxy S7 after nearly four years of updates, and by giving up on this model, the company officially leaves behind its latest Galaxy phone with a home button.
The South Korean company has already removed the Galaxy S7 from the Security Updates page, so right now, only the Galaxy S8 and newer models continue to receive updates.
As per Samsung’s update policy, phones receive two new major versions of Android, while security updates continue to be provided every month for two more years.
The Galaxy S7 has thus been serviced for a total of four years, which means it can very well be pulled right now to move the focus on newer models.
On the other hand, it’s very clear that there are quite a lot of users out there who continue to stick with the S7. And it happens for the reason mentioned above.
The front-facing fingerprint sensor
The Galaxy S7 is the latest Galaxy phone with a home button and an integrated fingerprint sensor, as the Galaxy S8 switched to an all-screen approach with the fingerprint sensor on the back. This design change obviously wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, so many just decided to stick with their S7 for as long as possible.
It goes without saying that using the S7 beyond this point isn’t necessarily the best way to go, as the lack of security updates means vulnerabilities and other bugs in the software powering the device would remain unpatched. So no matter if you like it or not, upgrading is now the recommended option, although those more tech-savvy can also switch to a custom ROM that still gets updates.
The Galaxy S8 is thus the next model to get the ax, most likely in about 12 months, albeit no specifics on timing are available for the time being.