When Google announced Android 5.0 Lollipop as the next big release of Android last Fall, it was no wonder that OEMs were scrambling to become the first to release the update to their users, even less surprising was how users demanded quick turnarounds from manufacturers like Samsung, HTC and LG. LG and Motorola were the first to release their updates to Android 5.0 last Fall, with the G3 and Moto X (2014) getting their first taste of Lollipop before anyone else. Samsung on the other hand, has been steadily rolling out these updates to their flagship devices, and with Android 5.1 now available, it’s no wonder that rumors are surrounding Android 5.1 updates being worked on by Samsung.
According to some rumors, Samsung is already hard at work bringing the Android 5.1 update to the Galaxy Note 4, as well as bringing the new version of TouchWiz from the Galaxy S6 to last year’s phablet. SamMobile have come forward with information from their sources that says otherwise, that Samsung is more interested in bringing Android 5.0 to the Galaxy A line of devices. This would make sense as Android 5.1 has only just launched, and Samsung has an awful lot of devices still to update to Android 5.0 Lollipop, getting started on the new version of Android would be premature for Samsung, as they have work to do still.
Another point to consider is that Samsung rarely bring a new version of TouchWiz down to a previous device. There are a number of reasons for this, but one of the main reasons is that Samsung wants to maintain the experience that a Galaxy Note 4 owner has from the moment they purchase the device to the moment they move on to something else. Not just that, but there’s also a lot of work that goes into porting new software to an older device that might not be viable. Will Samsung roll out Android 5.1 to devices that have Lollipop? We imagine the majority of them will get the update, but we’ve yet to hear anything official from Samsung and Android 5.1 has only been out a short while, so we’ll just have to wait and see. Samsung might not be the speediest when it comes to Android updates, but they often deliver in the end.