The Samsung Galaxy S4 is pretty old now and is over its 18 months of promised Android updates time period, but it wouldn’t be justice to the device if Samsung left it without giving it the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update.
Galaxy S4 packs hardware that’s powerful enough to run Marshmallow as smooth as it does the Lollipop release. And for fact, Marshmallow doesn’t require much power than Lollipop anyway so if Samsung and Carrier are denying the Marshmallow update to Galaxy S4 than it’d be simply rude of them.
Knowing Samsung, we’d say Marshmallow update will be given to Galaxy S4. But as far carriers are concerned, we can’t say anything. While good guys like T-Mobile, Sprint (and maybe AT&T too) will most probably release the Marshmallow update to Galaxy S4, we wouldn’t even dare think Verizon doing the same.
As for the release date, officially from Samsung, the Marshmallow update should be ready for Galaxy S4 by the end of 2015 or first quarter of 2016. However, carriers (even the good ones) might delay it by another 30-60 days, so give or take it’ll be March-April 2016 for Galaxy S4 users in USA.
This much delay is of course for the Galaxy S4 only, Samsung’s current flagship, Galaxy S6 and S6 edge Marshmallow update should release as soon as 30-45 days of official release by Google.
Let’s hit a quick breakdown of Galaxy S4 Marshmallow Update by various carriers in USA.
T-Mobile S4 Marshmallow Update
Model numbers: SGH-M919
If Samsung Galaxy S4 is getting the Marshmallow update officially by Samsung then chances are good that T-Mobile will release the update as well. However, release timings may wary.
Expected release date: Q2 2016.
Sprint s4 Marshmallow Update
Model numbers: SPH-L720
Sprint is our second good guy when it comes to quick rollout of Android updates, so if Samsung and T-Mobile are Galaxy S4 Android 6.0 Marshmallow update then count in Sprint as well.
Expected release date: Q2 2016
AT&T S6 and S6 Edge Marshmallow Update
Model numbers: SGH-I337
We can’t say for sure bu AT&T might actually update Galaxy S4 to Marshmallow. It’s hard guess things for AT&T. When none of the carriers and Samsung itself didn;t release KitKat for Galaxy S3, AT&T did. So the carrier may surprise us with Android 6.0 for Galaxy S4. We’ll wait and see.
Expected release date: Q2 2016
Verizon S6 and S6 Edge Marshmallow Update
Model numbers: SCH-I545
No. Don’t. Don’t bother expecting Verizon S4 getting Marshmallow.
Expected release date: Just in case, if ever it does, it’ll be Q4 2016.
So that’s what we think of release schedule for Galaxy S4 Marshmallow update. If have anything to add to this discussion, do post about it in the comments section below.
Image credit: Cult of Android
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