December security patches are rolling out to a number of devices over the past few days. Now, if reports are to be believed, it is the turn of two of Samsung’s latest flagship phablets on Verizon to get the cumulative security update for this month that has long been published by Google. The Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 Edge+ on big red are apparently beginning to receive the new software, as per Samsung’s promise of following Google’s monthly security update regimen. The changelog listed on Verizon’s official support page meanwhile, is fairly ambiguous, as it doesn’t go into any great length about the changes that are being effected as a result of the latest update. Instead, it simply states, “The current software update gives you the most up to date Android security patch on your device”.
Just as a reminder, earlier this year, Google had publicly committed itself to rolling out monthly security patches to Android, and multiple tier-1 Android OEMs like Samsung, LG, Sony and HTC have also committed themselves to following Google’s update schedule. By the looks of it, most of these OEMs are doing a fairly good job of doing the needful, now that the Mountain View, California-based tech giant is keeping up its end of the bargain. Just earlier this week, the nation’s third largest wireless carrier, T-Mobile, rolled out the December security patches to as many as four smartphones on its network, including the same two phablets, so it should not be long before the other carriers too start rolling out the patches to at least some of these devices on their respective carriers.
It not just Samsung devices that are receiving the security patches over the past few days either. Among the other devices getting the patches, there’s the recently-launched One A9 from Taiwanese smartphone vendor HTC, which has received the aforementioned update just last week, and a slew of devices from some other OEMs are expected to start receiving the update over the next few days as well. While security on Android has always been a hot topic, it looks as though Google and its OEM partners are finally doing something about not just making Android safer, but also fighting the public perception that the search giant and its OEM partners are indifferent and apathetic about security.