After a few busy weeks for Samsung smartphone owners in the U.S., the last group of Galaxy owners finally have something to rejoice over. Favoring carrier sold models, Samsung has been pushing out an Android 8.0 Oreo update to owners of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8 devices. That left owners of the unlocked Galaxy S8 devices out in the cold. That is, until now as owners are starting to report that the update is finally appearing for owners of the unlocked devices in the U.S.
The two Galaxy S8 models covered include the SM-G950UZKAXAA and SM-G955UZKAXAA models. Reports indicate the update is 1.3GB in size which is consistent with what the carrier versions of the devices were receiving. For the unlocked Galaxy Note 8, the update is only 1.1GB in size. Assuming the unlocked version updates are similar to the carrier versions, users are getting the Android Oreo improvements along with updates to a variety of apps that comprise Samsung's Experience interface layer.
Samsung's decision to flip the usual update process on its head – favoring carrier versions over unlocked devices – is definitely a new wrinkle in the market. Buyers typically go for unlocked models specifically to move to the head of the line when it comes to updates since additional carrier testing and work is not needed. It would be interesting to know if this is a move that Samsung pursued on its own for some reason or if it was part of the deals to get the devices onto the shelves of the major carriers.
source: PocketNow (S8/S8+), PocketNow (Note 8)
This may be a “new wrinkle in the market”, but is definitely NOT new for Samsung. They did the exact same thing with the unlocked versions of the S7 and S7 Edge, both of which received their updates to Nougat MONTHS after the carrier branded models. I suspect your theory of Samsung making a deal with the carriers is the correct one.