Well that’s encouraging. According to Italian site HD Blog, Samsung’s Italian arm has confirmed that basically all of their high-end models will receive an Android 4.0 update. We are making inquiries to confirm the news. The post says that the Galaxy S II, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy Tab 8.9, Galaxy Tab 7.7 and the refreshed Galaxy Tab 7.0 will all be updated to Ice Cream Sandwich.

According to the source, updates will begin rolling out in Q2 2012, at least in Italy. There’s no mention made of other worldwide territories, but you can bet that Samsung is planning similar updates across its varied markets. Basically all of Samsung’s Android phones (with the notable exception of the Galaxy Nexus) use Samsung’s custom TouchWiz UI, which will need to be updated to support Ice Cream Sandwich. That could explain the considerable delay – for contrast, Motorola claims that Ice Cream Sandwich devices will begin rolling out just six weeks after the software becomes available.

U.S. Samsung users should take this with a grain of salt. While the news is certainly encouraging, the American wireless market is rife with “value-adding” carrier customizations, and in some cases, wireless providers just aren’t inclined to update devices. There’s also no mention made of older phones like the original Galaxy S or newer, low/mid-range phones like the Galaxy W.

For a look at the Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy Note, be sure to check out our hands-on video from Samsung’s London event.

Ice Cream Sandwich Hands-on

[via TheNextWeb]