[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] fonix232:
Uhm, no. Customers want a RELIABLE phone they can use in the everydays, and don't give a damn about update speed. As long as it works, and does its tasks, it's fine.

The people who truly care about update speeds are low in number. What you're experiencing is an echo chamber - you get on a forum with like-minded people, and you all want the same: faster updates. And it looks like there's a LOT of you (us): everyone wants the same and we have HUNDREDS of pages of comments about it!

What you forget is that Samsung has over 40 million customers who've bought the S8/S8+ only. And a good majority, I'd risk my hat, about 39.5 million of that 40, doesn't give a damn about update speeds. Make sure it wakes them in the morning, it shoots okay photos, can play music, can navigate from A to B, can check Facebook, and can message friends, and done, you've pleased most of your customers.

Also, your rebuttal of working in the tech industry for over 10 years means nothing. It's just as pointless of an information as would be your current salary, or the type of car you drive. It's just some extra pointless noise to try to validate your point. TBH, nobody cares. I've worked in the IT sector for over 6 years now, mostly mobile development, and had the chance to see into carriers' data as well. That's how I drew my conclusion.

A research into the matter is not possible, because it would either be biased, or would cost a lot of money. A free research means the people who answer it are interested in the topic - but if most people are not interested, and only those who interested answer, what will it represent? 100% for faster updates - but those who don't care about update speed didn't answer, so their opinion is not taken into account. We could do a valid research with a few thousand people who own Samsung phones, and ask them extra questions as well (do they visit techie sites like r/Android, XDA, Android Police, etc.? Are they tech enthusiasts? And so on)

Prolonged beta testing? We had ~2 months of continuous beta updates - much shorter than e.g. Windows Insider tests, I mean, Microsoft is already testing updates that will go live to users NEXT AUTUMN - and then a quick and prompt release. You're literally *****ing here because your country gets the updates two weeks later than a few other countries.

1. Did you even read my point? TREBLE IS NOT ON THE ****ING NOTE8. No matter what Google releases, if a device is not using it in the first place, it won't help. Treble did help a lot (see S9 releases), but it doesn't change an effing thing for the Note8.

As for the other companies... You're comparing a manufacturer that doesn't even modify AOSP, and has what, 5 or 6 phones in total, to Samsung, who have HUNDREDS of models to support with various hardware and software features?

2. Does not matter. Software takes time. An app that takes one developer 5000 days won't be finished in a day or two just because you threw 5000 developers at it. After a given size, no matter how many devs you have working on the project, it will take the same time. Same applies to Samsung as well. As for updates... They come when Samsung announces them. Same with Apple. The key difference is that you think Google should dictate when other manufacturers release their ****. No, they should not. Samsung has their own schedule, Google as well. What you consider "unacceptably late", is "on time" for Samsung. Because they don't just release another Android update, they release a Samsung update, and that's it.

They charge premium prices because Samsung phones are inherently premium. And no, not higher than Apple's prices. Sure, if you want to compare the Galaxy Fold with the cheapest iPhone, then yes, the price is higher. But if you compare the same grade phones (S10e against iPhone XR, S10+ against XS Max, etc.), with the same storage options, you'll see that Samsung stays below Apple's prices by a good 2-300$.