This post was published 9 years, 11 months ago. Due to the rapidly evolving world of technology, some material it contains may no longer be applicable.
So unless you’ve been living in a cave somewhere lately, you’ve probably heard all about Google’s latest update to Android, version 5.0 Lollipop. However, unless you have a Nexus device the chances are slim that you have the update just yet so you may be wondering when, and in some cases if, you can expect to receive the update.
We have gathered the latest update timelines for a wide arrange of manufacturers and devices so you can see just when you are scheduled to get your hands on this latest Android treat. If you want to skip straight to the information for your device manufacturer click the appropriate link below:
Acer, Archos, Asus, Google, HTC, Huawei, LG, Motorola, Nvidia, OnePlus, Samsung, Sony, Xiaomi, ZTE, Others.
Acer
Unfortunately Acer have yet to announce any firm plans to update their devices. We suspect that their most recent few devices will get an update but it could take some time and based on their track record I would not expect to see an update on tablets more than 12 months old and for phones well you are probably out of luck because Acer is pretty terrible at pushing out major updates to their phones.
Archos
Archos are in a similar boat to Acer right now. We don’t have any release estimates from them yet but will update the posts should we get anything. Archos having been trying to boost their brand image lately so we would expect them to push out Lollipop to at least some of their more recent devices (if they are serious about their goals!)
Asus
Asus has confirmed on its official forum that six of its devices (and their sub-variants) will be receiving an update to Android 5.0 Lollipop next year but not quite as soon as some may have hoped. Still it is good to see them updating their devices. The list of devices includes the Asus ZenFone series (ZenFone 4, ZenFone 5, and ZenFone 6), alongside PadFone S and PadFone Infinity (second gen). The table below shows their update schedule right now.
Model | Expected Release Date |
---|---|
ZenFone 4 (A400CG/A450CG) | April 2015 |
ZenFone 5 (A500CG/A501CG) | April 2015 |
ZenFone 6 (A600CG/A601CG) | April 2015 |
ZenFone 5 LTE (A500KL) | April 2015 |
PadFone S (PF500KL) | April 2015 |
The new PadFone Infinity (A86) | June 2015 |
Notably absent are any of their tablet devices so I guess the jury’s still out on which will get updated. We suspect that 2014 MeMO and Transformer Pad tablets will get the update and possibly the TF701 but we’d be surprised if there was anything for earlier models. If we hear any more news from Asus on updates for their tablet devices we will update the post.
If you have an older Asus Transformer Tablet such as the TF300 or TF700 development has started on custom ROMs so even though these devices have been left in the dark since Jelly Bean, you should not be left behind if you are willing to unlock your device.
Nexus
Lollipop is ready for your guys right now! Yay! Updates for the Nexus devices from 2012 onwards, including all Nexus 7 variants, the Nexus 4, Nexus 5 and Nexus 10 all started rolling out a few weeks back and if you have not got it yet you can install it manually by side-loading the appropriate OTA ZIP from below or flashing the factory image from here using fastboot. The latter method requires an unlocked bootloader while the former just requires that you are running stock 4.4.4.
Owners of the Nexus 9, Nexus Player or the even more elusive Nexus 6 will note that your device(s) shipped with Lollipop although there are patch updates for those devices too and so those are also included below:
OTA Download Links
Nexus 9
5.0 (LRX21L) -> 5.0 (LRX21R): volantis LRX21R from LRX21L
5.0 (LRX21Q) -> 5.0 (LRX21R): volantis LRX21R from LRX21Q
Nexus 6
5.0 (LNX07M) -> 5.0 (LRX21O): shamu LRX21O from LNX07M
Nexus 5
4.4.4 (KTU84P) -> 5.0: hammerhead LRX21O from KTU84P
4.4.4 (KTU84Q) -> 5.0: hammerhead LRX21O form KTU84Q
Nexus 4
4.4.4 (KTU84P) -> 5.0: occam LRX21T from KTU84P
Nexus 7 2013 Wi-Fi
4.4.4 -> 5.0: razor LRX21P from KTU84P
Nexus 7 2013 LTE
Links will be added when we get them!
Nexus 7 2012 Wi-Fi
4.4.4 -> 5.0: nakasi LRX21P from KTU84P
Nexus 7 2012 3G
Links will be added when we get them!
Nexus 10
4.4.4 -> 5.0: mantaray LRX21P from KTU84P
If you have an older Nexus (Nexus Q, Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S or Nexus One) there will be no official Lollipop update but that should not come as a surprise since these were already all dropped prior to KitKat even (the Nexus One was officially left back on Gingerbread!). However, if you have one of these devices hope is not lost. Development is still fairly strong on all Nexus devices so it is likely many of them (perhaps even all of them) will see some form of port (in fact the Galaxy Nexus already does). They all have been able to run 4.4.4 unofficially reasonably well so things are looking promising.
GPE and Android One
Updates for Google Play Edition and Android One devices are also mostly handled by Google and so you should also see updates very soon – most likely before the year is out.
HTC
HTC have confirmed that their devices will get quick updates with most phones on track to receive Lollipop within the first half of 2015 and the flagship HTC One devices (M7 and M8) have been promised updates “within 90-days” of HTC receiving the final version of Lollipop from Google. They stated on the 3rd of November that they have now received the Lollipop source code and started work so if you have a HTC One M8 or M7 you’ll be looking at a January update, early February at the latest and obviously the GPE models even sooner. They also said that other members of the One family (like the One Mini, Mini 2 and One Max) will follow suit.
We suspect newer Desire phones (especially the just-announced Desire Eye) should also receive an update but have not heard anything official regarding those devices yet.
Huawei
Huawei are not always the quickest to update a their devices – they only quite recently started rolling out Android 4.4 to the Ascend P6 for example and the Ascend G6 is still waiting for it!
However, they have announced that the Huawei Ascend Mate 2 which they originally said would not get Lollipop or even get KitKat (despite being only a few months old) will in fact get the update straight from Jelly Bean to Lollipop after all!
They were pretty vague on the time-line for this though and just said “in the first half of next year”. At best we’d guess March / April time but we would not be surprised to see it to run up until June based on their track record. Still it is good news as at one point it looked like owners would be stuck on Jelly Bean!
There has still been no official word as to which other devices will get the update. We would suspect the companies latest flagship (the Ascend P7) should be updated as that shipped with KitKat, but who knows how long it will be! We would assume though that it should be no later than the first half of 2015 though based on the timeline for the older Mate 2. As for other Huawei devices we will just have to wait and see. We’ll update the post if we hear any more.
LG
The LG G3 updates have started in Poland already and are on their way to devices in other countries including the UK before the end of the year which is very impressive! We are still not sure which other LG devices will see Lollipop yet though. We hope to hear more from LG soon.
Motorola
The 2014 editions of the Moto X and Moto G have already started getting Lollipop and the 2013 editions along with the Moto E and Droid Turbo / Moto Maxx should follow shortly afterwards.
Also in the pipeline for updates from Motorola are the Droid Maxx, Droid Mini and Droid Ultra but Motorola have said they are still unsure of the exact timescale for these models as it depends on support from their partners (meaning they will be as quick as possible and then you are at the mercy of Verizon!).
Summary: Motorola are killing it and if you have a recent Motorola device you’ll have your tasty Lollipops very soon if not already! Motorola smartphone owners can check out more details on the Android 5.0 Lollipop update on the company’s support page.
Nvidia
Good news for owners of the new Nvidia SHIELD Tablet! Thanks to Nvidia keeping their tablet very close to stock, the Lollipop update has been very fast and has already started rolling out! If you have not got it yet sit tight, you should have it in time for Christmas!
As for the original SHIELD (SHIELD Portable) there have been no comments yet but we’d say it could go either way. We slightly favour the possibility of it getting an update than not at all as the Tegra 4 is not that old but you’ll just have to wait and see. We certainly wouldn’t don’t expect anything until the New Year at the earliest.
As for the NVIDIA Tegra Note 7, there has also been no news and we are less optimistic than the SHIELD Portable since it was mainly made as a reference device. However, while the performance is the lowest of the bunch, it could definitely still manage Lollipop and so with some luck, maybe Nvidia will give it their blessing. Our advice: don’t write it off completely but don’t get too hopeful either. Hopefully Nvidia will announce something soon either way.
OnePlus
OnePlus only have one phone so they have no excuses for any delays really. Lucky it is good news for those few of you who managed to get hold of the OnePlus One. As it runs CyanogenMod 11s right now which is based on AOSP, it should not take long to get an update together. OnePlus have given the same promise as HTC (90 days from the source release) and so expect the update in January or early February.
Samsung
Samsung has a mess of devices. They seem to have more Galaxies than the observable universe (although they are finally due to streamline in 2015!!) so expect their rollouts to take ages and vary wildly with many devices never making it, especially if you have a mid or low range device.
So far from their teasers and leaked builds we know almost certainly that the following phones/phablets (and variants of – including mini versions) will be updated:
- Galaxy S5
- Galaxy S4
- Galaxy Note 3
- Galaxy Note 4
Updates for the above models should start shortly but could take some time to reach the all the different variations of each. We’d estimate that the international S5 and Note 4 should start from January – February time and that the roll-outs to all the various variants of those two most recent generations of Galaxy S and Galaxy Note phones will be finished within the first half of 2015.
We would also suspect that the Galaxy Alpha and possibly also the Note Edge will be updated, but I wouldn’t hold your breath for Samsung’s other phone models as they will likely be left out lost in a sea of mostly low-end devices, which may or may not be updated at all. And if they are, most likely not for quite a few months. But you never know, performance this time from all companies is looking better than past Android releases so Samsung may surprise us yet!
As for Samsung’s expansive and rather confusing range of tablets, we reckon that the Tab S 8.4 and 10.5 are likely candidates for the update, along with the most recent generation of Galaxy Tabs and the Note Pro range.
Beyond that, we really don’t know! We are not trying to upset Samsung owners here or bash Samsung but know they have an awful lot of devices and not the best track record for fast updates so we are just saying not to be too hopeful about getting an update promptly unless you have a recent flagship device. It is going to take some time to get updates to everyone and Samsung are also in a restructuring phase after big dip in profits they year which could mean them choosing to drop certain devices from updates to save development costs.
Sony
Sony are another manufacturer who have given really positive news regarding Lollipop updates and have promised to update the entire Xperia Z line! Yep that’s right all of them! The list of these devices is as follows:
- Xperia Z
- Xperia ZL
- Xperia ZR
- Xperia Tablet Z
- Xperia Z1
- Xperia Z1S
- Xperia Z Ultra
- Xperia Z1 Compact
- Xperia Z2
- Xperia Z2 Tablet
- Xperia Z3
- Xperia Z3v
- Xperia Z3 Compact
- Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact.
Sony has said that the Z Ultra Google Play Edition update will be out this year and then the new Z3 range, followed by the Z2 devices and then the older Z line devices respectively, will receive their updates in turn all within “early 2015”. Impressive stuff we must say! That should be January for the Z3 and Z3 compact and the others following on from there.
They have not given word on other product lines but we suspect that there should be updates for the midrange Xperia M series devices once the rollout for the Z-series is complete.
One final thing to note is that Sony have been fantastic with their support of the development community and have not only provided updated drivers, made their devices easy to unlock and encouraged hacking and third-party development but have even released Android 5.0 AOSP-based source code with updated binaries for their Z1, Z2 & Z3 phones so if you are a fan of stock or can’t wait even until the new year, then so long as you are comfortable flashing custom ROMs, Sony has got you sorted already!
Xiaomi
Xiaomi, like many of the Chinese OEMs, may have been a mixed bag in terms of updates on some of their devices in the past, but has certainly not been the worst. One thing that could cause delays is that they feature their own ‘MIUI’ skin which is quite a departure from stock Android.
However, let’s not forget they now have ex-Googler Hugo Barra and he is promising that updates will be a be the number one priority for their devices going forward and so there is reason to be positive if you own one of their devices.
Upgrading to Lollipop is my #1 priority from a product perspective for our global business – Hugo Barra
Hugo also stated more specifically that the Mi line of top-tier Xiaomi devices will receive Android 5.0 Lollipop in the first few months of 2015, closely followed by the mid-range RedMi phone line. All good stuff!
ZTE
If you happen to own a ZTE handset and are wondering when Android Lollipop will be arriving for it well…so are we! To be perfectly honest we are mainly just wondering if rather than when. Sorry guys, but given even fairly recent phones like the ZTE Blade V and the ZTE Blade Q Mini have launched with already outdated versions of Android and have never been updated, we are not hopeful at this point.
Others
We know there are many other Android manufacturers out there but there are so many that Android 6.0 would be done by the time I finished this article if we mentioned them all! We have tried to do the companies that make the devices for the majority of our readers. We are sorry if yours was not included.
Anyhow, if you do own a device from Alcatel, Sharp, Panasonic, Kazam, Oppo or anyone else unfortunately none of them have confirmed their plans for Android 5.0 Lollipop. Though, as you probably already suspected, updates from these companies are few and far between so don’t get your hopes too high! That said, if we do hear anything from any of them, we will be sure to add that information here!
Final Words
Hopefully that has cleared things up for you and your wait is not too long now! Overall we are pretty impressed with the way things seem to be going so far (especially compared to past releases).
It is important to remember to be patient though as development and product testing takes time. It is better to have KitKat for an extra week and get a stable update than get Lollipop sooner and find you have some device-crippling bug that means you can’t make calls or use the internet – you know, sort of like a recent system update to a certain other mobile platform from some fruity company based in Cupertino!
Equally, if you find your device is not getting updated remember that your device is not suddenly useless. I know many of us here like to have the latest and greatest but older versions of Android are still very capable and can provide a wonderful experience. They won’t get any worse now Lollipop is out! In fact most apps will still be updated all the way back to ICS devices and many of the new APIs will still reach your device too thanks to Google Play service updates.
Custom ROMs are another great option for many devices – CyanogenMod 12 is being worked on right now and many devices already have AOSP-based ports available on XDA!
That said, if you are still running Gingerbread (or even lower!), we would really encourage you to consider a device upgrade if you can – especially if you care at all about new features or security! This is because it below the minimum API level required by most new apps at this point and so you will find your device becoming increasingly abandoned by developers as we move into this new era of Lollipops and Material Design.
We will be updating the lists on our “Top 10s” page soon and also ranking the Android OEMs based a range of criteria, which hopefully should help you come to a decision if you are thinking about an upgrade soon. Stay tuned for that!
Finally, if you have any information regarding device updates please do let us know in the comments or via social media and we will do our best to keep this list updated for everyone! Now go and brace yourselves for material-themed goodness!