Samsung is undoubtedly one of the industry leaders with regards to rolling out timely updates. The South Korean company led the update race this year, releasing Android 12 for most of its extensive lineup already. There is one issue with the current update process, however, that not only creates quite a mess but also results in unnecessary resource drain for the company — regional fragmentation.
Most OEMs adopt a batch release process where updates are sent out to devices of select regions first before being made available widely. This helps limit the damage of any build if it turns out buggy. In the case of Samsung, every phone carries a specific “CSC” code that identifies its region, and the company has to apparently test builds for each code separately.
And that’s where fragmentation creeps in, resulting in some regional variants either being far ahead in terms of build versions or far behind. This problem could now be finally changing, according to Galaxy Club (via Android Police).
Samsung appears to be unifying CSC codes for newer smartphone releases, effectively reducing the number of variations in circulation. Take the 4G variant of the Galaxy A52, for example, that had far fewer CSC variants than other models. This trend has carried forward with the Galaxy Z Fold3 and Flip3, with the duo now carrying a unified EUX CSC code for Europe.
Moreover, Galaxy Club has verified that no ‘hyper-localized’ firmware is currently being developed for any Samsung phone due to appear in 2022. These include the Galaxy S22 series, Galaxy A23, and Galaxy A73, all of which use a more uniform EUX code for the entire continent.
While it appears that this new firmware development strategy is being adopted only for Europe at the moment, it is likely that it will seep through to other regions as well.
So, what’s the upside for users? The most noticeable benefit should be quicker updates as Samsung needs to work on just one build for a group of countries. Such perks are already turning to reality — the Galaxy S21 received Android 12 in record time — and we should hopefully be seeing even faster rollouts with Android 13.
RELATED:
- Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G gets Android 12 based One UI 4.0 update in India and Europe
- Samsung Galaxy S22 lineup shows up in all colorways ahead of launch
- Samsung confirms Galaxy Unpacked event on February 9 for Galaxy S22 series
- Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 design form all angles revealed
- Samsung’s new security chip adds a fingerprint scanner to payment cards
