Sorry Galaxy S owners, no Ice Cream Sandwich for you (blame TouchWiz)

Owners of Samsung’s first lineup of Galaxy S phones are in for some bitter news this morning, as the company has confirmed that the phones won’t be receiving an update to Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich.”

Samsung pointed to its TouchWiz interface on the phones as the main reason for the snub, saying that there isn’t enough RAM and storage to run both Android 4.0 and TouchWiz, the Verge reports.

The company recently announced that its newer Galaxy S II phones will receive an Ice Cream Sandwich update early next year.

Given that Samsung sold over 10 million Galaxy S units in 2010, there are certainly going to be a lot of customers angered by this news. It’s particularly surprising since the Nexus S, which is also built by Samsung and shares plenty of hardware with the Galaxy S series, will be getting an Android 4.0 upgrade. Samsung explains that away, saying the Nexus S doesn’t run TouchWiz, so there are more resources available for Ice Cream Sandwich to use.

The news shows yet another downside to custom Android skins, which have been criticized for slowing down phones without adding much additional functionality. While Samsung likely won’t ever let go of TouchWiz on the Galaxy S, some intrepid users could release a version of Ice Cream Sandwich for the phones with Samsung’s software stripped out.

Additionally, Samsung also said that its first tablet, the original 7-inch Galaxy Tab, won’t see an upgrade for similar reasons. That’s less of an issue, since that tablet didn’t win over many fans.