Many saw the launch of the Galaxy A8 and A8+ as a new dawn in Samsung’s pursuit of dominance in the midrange smartphone market, which is largely dominated by OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T while the Honor View 10 looks like a serious threat as well. The A8 duo has a premium design, specs and features, but it’s let down by one major aspect: software.
Make no mistake. Samsung greatly improved its take on Android with Samsung Experience 8.5, but rather than go for Android Oreo out of the box, Samsung went with Android 7.1.1 Nougat. This decision wasn’t taken well by many, especially since Oreo had been around for about five months. However, it was obvious that Samsung was saving the new OS for the flagship Galaxy S9 and S9+, which is indeed the case.
Related: Samsung Galaxy A8+ review
Given that the Galaxy A8 and A8+ are the closest you can get to the flagship Galaxy S8 or S9 for that matter, it was expected that the pair would get near similar treatment when it comes to software updates. However, looking at the latest developments, the two will, in fact, be among the last Samsung devices to jump to Oreo.
Apparently, the Galaxy A8 and A8+ will be upgraded to Android Oreo somewhere in Q3 2018, more than six months after the phone’s launch and about a year since Oreo went live. This is a strange move by Samsung (if it materializes), especially since the devices the A8 and A8+ are looking to compete with are already running Android Oreo, either out of the box or via an OTA update.
The aforementioned OnePlus 5 and 5T are already testing Android 8.1 while the Honor View 10 and even HTC U11 EYEs have Oreo out of the box. If anything, these devices will be nearing Android P updates by the time Samsung will be getting ready to roll out Oreo to the Galaxy A8 and A8+.
Also Read: Will my device get Android P?
It’s truly a shame to see how Samsung is handling devices that are supposed to be giving the likes of OnePlus 5T, Honor View 10 and HTC U11 EYEs a run for their money, but we hope we are wrong about this and that Oreo will be here latest this summer.
