Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge Exynos Android 7.0 Nougat Kernel Source Code Released

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Last night Samsung publicly released the kernel source code of their Nougat update for the Exynos based Samsung Galaxy S7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge devices, on par with their Android 7.0 rollout.

This public source code release follows tightly on the heels of the final beta version being distributed to Samsung’s Galaxy Beta program testers last Friday. While it would have been nice to see Nougat arrive on the S7 even quicker than it did (especially considering how long the Nougat Galaxy Beta program ran for), we are quite excited to see the final product that Samsung is releasing, and to see Samsung continuing to support their devices. The lag time before updating the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge to Android Nougat stands out particularly heavily this year considering the increased efforts that Google took in 2016 to provide manufacturers with early access to the developer preview source code before Nougat’s launch to help with porting the software over, and how the recall of the Note 7 left Samsung with half as many flagship phones to focus on updating the software for. With this update bringing Android 7.0 with the January 1st security patch level to the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, hopefully we will see Samsung continue to push forward with their updates and bring 7.1.1 to these devices soon.

It is always good to see a somewhat-timely release of kernel source code by OEMs, especially in light of the recent issues that certain vendors have been having with it. Releasing the kernel source code is a legal requirement if an OEM wants to use Android (and the Linux kernel that it is built upon), and is absolutely vital for community software development. It is a huge part of why Android has become what it is today, and is a requirement that we are always happy to see continue to be enforced.

The Linux kernel source code for the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge’s Nougat update can be downloaded from Samsung’s Open Source Release Center in the source links below.

Source: Samsung Open Source Release Center (S7 Edge) Via: Sammobile