Verizon's Samsung Galaxy S6 is getting the April security update otherwise labeled "April 2." The update was revealed following the Marshmallow update, which also rolled out to the carrier's Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge.
Interestingly, the April security update on the Verizon Galaxy S6 was confirmed even before it released to Google Nexus devices and the BlackBerry Priv. It should also be noted that the patch came even vefore Google made it official.
With the release of the April security update along with the latest Marshmallow rollout, it is safe to say that the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge on Verizon are more up to date and even more secure compared with the latest Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge devices. Even the Nexus and handsets from BlackBerry, which regularly receive such updates every month, seem to be outshined by the early rollout of the security update on the Galaxy devices.
Samsung is known for delivering slow updates to its Android devices, which is true even with flagships. The same connotation is also seen by Verizon customers. Recently, however, both Samsung and Verizon have tried to change their reputations by delivering accurate and timely updates for their products.
The early rollout of the update ahead of Google's official announcement can be traced back to a policy that was adopted by Google. Aiming to foster more timely updates by a manufacturer, Google's update policy allows manufacturers to release new patches as early as 30 days prior to release to its Nexus devices.
In other words, the April security update that was released on Verizon's Samsung Galaxy S6 can occur repeatedly in future updates on any device so long as the manufacturer has successfully gotten hold of the patch and hammered it early enough.
It is also worth noting that both Google and Samsung have taken the necessary steps in releasing security updates to their devices in a more timely manner.
Google announced that its Android Open Source Project, as well as the company's own Nexus lineup of devices, would receive security updates on a monthly basis, all of which are independent of major maintenance releases.
Samsung, on the other hand, launched its own security website, on which it plans to announce the release of security updates for its devices as soon as the information becomes available. However, the company mentioned that the maintenance release is meant for "major flagship models," which can refer to none other than the Galaxy S6 and "Edge" models, as well as the Galaxy S5, Note 4 and Note 5. Other "major flagship models" to wrap up the list include the Galaxy Tab S2 and the Tab S tablets.
