US Variants Of The Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge Bootloaders Locked Down Tight

DroidModderX

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In case you missed it all US variants of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge have locked bootloaders. This is a huge blow for those of us with high hopes of running AOSP on a Snapdragon processor. It was several years ago that CyanogenMod announced that they would not officially support phones with Exynos processors. Many devices with previous versions of Snapdragon processors however were supported by CyanogenMod and other AOSP roms. It would stand to reason that a device with the Snapdragon 820 would support AOSP roms. Lots of T-mobilers pre-ordered the devices in anticipation of being able to remove touch-wiz in favor of AOSP.

You may be thinking "locked bootloader big deal we have hacked those in the past". Not this time. A source inside Samsung's engineering mobile department said that the T-Mobile S7 has a secure-flash locked bootloader. He also mentioned that dm-verity is enabled in the kernel. This means previous root methods will not work.

Some testers tried to flash TWRP to the device just to see what they would get. The flash returned a "secure check failure". This means that we would actually need an OEM key to flash files to the device. We will likely never see an unlocked bootloader on the S7 unless Samsung themselves provide the method.

We will have to rely on someone finding a vulnerability in order to gain root. At this point that does not seem likely. These types of root methods also mean you have to stay on older outdated software to keep root which is a drag. Head to the link below for the full break down of how and why the S7 bootloaders were locked.

via XDA
 

Ollie

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Exynos. FTW (Sorry Sprint and VZW users)
 

cr6

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Not much difference "speed wise" this year Mr Ollie. Both processors are basically neck & neck on almost all benchmark tests. Qualcomm for the tie!

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xeene

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I think unlocking, rooting and flashing will soon be a thing of the past as these phones come with so many more options.
 

tech_head

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Nexus. Only one answer.
I'll continue to buy Nexus devices. My 6P was the first.
I own my phone. If the bootloader is locked, the vendor or carrier owns your phone.
 
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