The Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) spotted running on Pie, could get its third major OS update?

Samsung began sending the stable Android Pie-based One UI update out to the Galaxy S9 this week in certain markets, and US users are set to get their dues next month. After that will be the Note 9 and last-gen flagships like the Note 8 and S8 phones. All of that is expected, but it’s a bit surprising to find out that a mostly ignored Samsung phone, the A5 (2017) could also be set to get Android Pie.

The A5 was spotted on Geekbench running on Android Pie and reports claim that alludes to Samsung being set to send out the Pie update to the device. There’s nothing particularly newsworthy about a Galaxy A phone being prepped for Pie but A5 is something of a curious case.

It was released in January 2017, rather surprisingly with Android Marshmallow out of the box. Nougat was already months old by then, and it would be akin to a device being launched on Oreo next month, which—come to think of it—isn’t out of the norm anymore. The Nokia 6 (2018), for example, was released on Nougat back in January. The A5, since then, has received the Nougat and Oreo updates, which already makes for two major updates, the absolute most we’ve ever seen on an Android device.

Until now, that is. If Samsung does indeed send out the Pie update to the A5, it will be the third major update it receives, and the first Android phone to receive three OS updates. Google promised three major updates starting with the Pixel 2, but the phones have received just one major update so far. Likewise, the OnePlus 3T could also receive its third major update but that is yet to be seen.

A few days ago, a purported roadmap for Samsung’s Pie rollout surfaced but a quick check reveals that the A5 is very much missing from that list, so the source report here should be taken with a grain of salt, especially since the Galaxy S6 played host to similar rumors last year but still didn’t receive Oreo.

Considering how out of the norm it'd be, we're inclined to write this off as a sketchy report. There's also the likelihood that the device in question was running on a Pie-based custom ROM.