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New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….
Original story (published on July 18, 2019) follows:
Essential is arguably the only non-Google Android OEM right now to rollout monthly OTA updates at the same pace as the Mountain View giant. They even published Android Q beta builds for the Essential Phone right on the same date alongside Google Pixel lineup.
Samsung, one of the largest Android smartphone makers, is kind of a backbencher in this regard. None of their phones are part of the public beta testing of Android Q.
On the other hand, the frequency of monthly security updates is somewhat eerie – even in the case of Galaxy S10, their 10th anniversary Galaxy flagship. For example, the global unlocked variant of S10 received June security patch at the end of the corresponding month.
In past, the June update of US carrier variants got leaked before official availability. The leak actually helped us to deduce the arrival of v2 bootloader – a one-way update that would prevent rolling back to previous builds.
There was some speculations regarding a new branch of software updates (‘B’ instead of regular ‘A’), but ultimately that did not happen.
Now the global Exynos powered models get the early taste of July update, as some regional models are allegedly getting a new build (ASF4) with updated monthly security patches.
Although the screenshot was originated from a German Galaxy S10 unit, the official regional update tracker of Samsung is unexpectedly silent about this particular build. Apart from the July security patch, the changelog is pretty generic:
· Wi-Fi connectivity and stability have been improved.
· The stability of Camera has been improved
Interestingly, the baseband version of the build is G975FXXU2ASG1 (as reported by the user). The ‘G’ letter is clearly indicating the compilation month as July. Is it a random soak test build?
Unfortunately tools like Frija are unable to locate the build(s) on Samsung update servers right now. It could be possible that Samsung engineers accidentally pushed the release candidate build to some retail units before the wider rollout.
As a matter of fact, both ASF4 and ASG1 builds for Exynos Galaxy S10 exist inside Samsung servers. Neither they are indexed, nor they are publicly available for download at this moment.
PiunikaWeb is keeping a tab on the situation. As soon as the update goes live, we will update our article.
Update 1 (July 22)
A new Galaxy S10 OTA blueprint, almost identical to its previous version, has appeared via Samsung Members app. The fate of July update is still unknown. Details here.
Update 2 (July 25)
The July update for international Galaxy S10 units is finally available in the form of ASG8 build. Once again, Samsung bundles a new (v3) bootloader, so that downgrading becomes impossible.
Update 3 (August 2)
Verizon becomes with first US carrier to distribute July security patch for the Samsung Galaxy s10 lineup. The new update (ASGB) is gradually rolling out. Details here.
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