The firmware running on the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus is now available for download, having been obtained by SamMobile earlier today, four days before Samsung’s latest Android flagships are scheduled to officially released worldwide. The system images that can be downloaded below have been taken from the international variants of the two devices identified by the model numbers SM-G960F (Galaxy S9) and SM-G965F (Galaxy S9 Plus), both of which are powered by Samsung’s in-house Exynos 9810 system-on-chip. The firmware for the smaller phablet has been obtained from a DBT model sold in Germany, whereas the one designed for the larger device originates from a variant offered in the United Kingdom.
The software devised for the Galaxy S9 is identified by the version number G960FXXU1ARC5, while the Galaxy S9 Plus is running build G965FXXU1ARC5. As expected, both images are based on Google’s Android 8.0 Oreo and feature the South Korean tech giant’s custom Android implementation advertised as Samsung Experience 9.0. By most accounts, the firmware running on the company’s latest flagships is largely identical to the one found on their predecessors as it features a similar user interface and largely offers the same tools, with some notable exceptions being AR Emoji and improved capabilities of the default Camera app. As was the case with other Samsung-made premium phablets in recent years, the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus aren’t expected to make a jump to an incremental operating system version such as Android 8.1 Oreo and are instead likely to be upgraded directly to Android P in late 2018 or early 2019.
The Seoul-based OEM and its partners are still offering both devices for pre-orders, though no global incentives are available to consumers, save for the fact that most advanced orders are shipping as of last Friday, i.e. started being fulfilled a week before the new product family’s official commercial debut. The handsets are expected to be some of the best-selling mobile devices of the year and help Samsung strengthen its market dominance.
Galaxy S9 FirmwareGalaxy S9 Plus Firmware