Samsung Galaxy S8, S8 Plus Release Date In China Set For Next Week, Security Update For Units In India R

A specific date has finally popped up for the Chinese market release of Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+. The Korean tech giant’s 2017 flagship smartphones will be available in the Asian country starting next week.

According to a report from local Korean news website The Investor, a showcase event for the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ is slated to happen in China on May 18. The phone is then expected to officially hit the Chinese shelves on May 25, as mentioned in the post.

It may not be a walk in the park for the tech giant to promote their latest flagship in China, according to industry watchers, especially after the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco last year that negatively impacted Samsung’s brand. Moreover, even though the Galaxy S8 and S8+ maker is the biggest smartphone maker in the world, for the first quarter of 2017, the tech conglomerate was only able to own a small percentage of the Chinese market, 3.3 percent to be specific, primarily because of the strong market competition against Chinese mobile brands, The Investor explained. Sam Mobile also cited the “diplomatic tensions between South Korea and China” as a likely hurdle for the market performance of the Galaxy S8 phones.

Aside from the release date news for Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+’s market launch, the report also mentioned that in June, a Chinese language support for Bixby could be added, allowing users to enjoy a full experience of the company’s digital assistance service. A new frenemy of other existing mobile virtual assistance services like Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa, Samsung’s Bixby is a “completely new way” to utilize the Galaxy S8 and S8+. As for what it offers, Samsung’s official website noted the following.

“You can use voice, text, or touch to say what you need since it understands all three. When you’re lost for words, open the camera and Bixby will search for you. It’s integrated into every aspect of the Galaxy S8 and S8+, so it’s able to handle the tasks you normally do on your phone and it’s constantly learning your ways so it can get better and better.”

Bixby’s language support started with Korean and was then expanded to English. Support for Chinese, as aforementioned, is scheduled for release next month. As for support for other languages, Samsung said that release plans for those are still tentative. Meanwhile, Bixby voice controls are expected to be integrated into some of the most popular native apps.

As for other Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ news, a recent firmware release is a security update, which is now rolling out to units in India. GSM Arena shared that the hefty update is around 615MB, bringing in the security improvements for the month of May. It is still unknown whether the latest firmware build contains other changes or anything new aside from upgrading Android’s security level.

The update should be available via the Over-the-Air or OTA process and should roll out to other countries in Asia and Europe soon. A notification should show up once the firmware is ready for the device. Checking the system manually if there’s any firmware update available can be done by going to the phone’s Settings menu and tapping the Software Update option.

The worldwide release for Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ began last month. The phones are only available in few countries, but a separate report from The Investor has revealed that more than 5 million units have been sold globally, as announced by a Samsung official on Tuesday.

The Inquisitr will keep you in the loop for more pertinent release and firmware updates for Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+.

[Featured Image by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Samsung]