Unlocked Samsung Galaxy S9 Devices Finally Receiving Android 9 Pie Update
One would think that unlocked versions of Samsung devices would be among the first to receive Android 9 Pie, as they don't have carrier bloatware attached, but that just hasn't been the case for the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+. Carrier-locked models (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, U.S. Cellular) began receiving the OS update earlier this month, and the update for unlocked models began pushing out over-the-air (OTA) during the past few days.
If anything, we would have expected to see the carrier unlocked versions to receive Android 9 Pie months ago, but that’s just not how Samsung rolls. Instead, customers have been waiting six months for the major OS update – just days before the company announces its Galaxy S10 family. This is a rather disappointing showing for the largest Android OEM on the planet, which definitely has the resources to push out Android updates at a faster clip.
With that being said, the Android 9 Pie update – complete with the new One UI – weighs in a large 1.7GB according to Android Police, and is available for both the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+. The update also includes updated security patches as of January 1st 2019.
For those that want to manually invoke the update, you can navigate to Settings --> Software Update --> Download Updates Manually to get jump ahead of everyone else.
As for Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ users, you should start receiving the final/production Android 9 Pie update later this month according to Samsung’s release schedule (devices currently only have access to the Beta 4 release).
With that being said, Samsung would probably hope that you not worry too much about the Android 9 Pie update for your “old” Galaxy phone and instead focus your attention on the new and shiny Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10, and Galaxy S10+ that will be announced on Wednesday. The devices will all include the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC and will reportedly feature up to a 6.4-inch display, dual selfie cameras, triple rear cameras, 12GB of RAM and 1TB of internal storage.
