DEVICES GETTING ANDROID 8.0

Android Oreo update schedule

Google Pixel/Nexus Android Oreo update

Google began rolling out Android 8.0 Oreo to its current Nexus and Pixel devices on August 21, 2017. Factory images and OTA links are available on the Android Developers website and if you need any help flashing the image, follow our straightforward guide to installing Android Oreo manually.

The following devices are officially receiving Android 8.0 Oreo updates. Click on the links to get the latest factory image.

The following devices have received updates to Android 7.1.1 Nougat, but will not receive updates to Android 8.0:

Android 8.0 update: when will I get it?

For all non-Google devices, you’ll have to wait until well after the official launch of Android 8.0 to see Android Oreo on your device – somewhere between three months and a year depending on your handset manufacturer and carrier.

We previously shared details of the fastest OEMs and carriers to update to Android Nougat and we also took a second, mid-rollout look at OEM update performance. Perhaps not too surprisingly, the podium finishes for the first update aren’t always backed up by update performance over time. Updating mid-range and budget devices is never a particularly appealing prospect for device manufacturers or carriers, unfortunately.

As always, we encourage you to do a little homework when planning your next Android purchase, especially if rapid updates are important to you. Some manufacturer and carrier combinations are more responsive than others, and the upcoming Google Pixel 2 will be at the top of the pile for the next two years. With that said, here are our predictions on when your device is likely to get Android 8.0 based on historical performance.

Samsung Android 8.0 update

Samsung isn’t exactly speedy when it comes to rolling out Android updates, and we sadly don’t expect that to change significantly with the Android Oreo update. In our mid-rollout assessment for Nougat, Samsung is near the bottom of the score sheet. Yes, the company has near limitless resources, but it also has the largest product portfolio by far and countless carrier agreements spanning the globe to slow it down.

Flagships come first and the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus will be on the top of the update list alongside the Galaxy Note 8.

Looking at Nougat, Samsung got the first updates out to the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge in China and the UK 143 days after Google released Android 7.0. The update took a grand total of 180 days to reach US shores, landing first on T-Mobile, followed by AT&T the day after and Sprint two days after that. Verizon hobbled across the finish line a couple of weeks later.

But what about the year before? For the Marshmallow update, Verizon actually got there first, delivering Android 6.0 to the Galaxy Note 5 after 156 days. Carrier performance can fluctuate year to year and device to device, but based on these two efforts, we can expect the first update to Android 8.0 for the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus to arrive between 5-6 months after it is released by Google – around January or February 2018.

Korean S8 owners will likely get it at least a month earlier than the US, and of course, both Samsung and its carrier partners could either speed things up this year, or slow them down even further. But a 2017 Samsung Android 8.0 update looks unlikely unless Samsung has suddenly decided that updates are, you know, important.

Best case scenario: 5-6 months after Android 8.0 arrives (January/February 2018)

LG Android 8.0 update

LG managed to launch the V20 last year with Android Nougat pre-installed – the first phone to arrive with the latest version of Android out of the box. We might see a similar thing happen this year with the upcoming LG V30, which is due to be unveiled on August 31, just a few days after the Galaxy Note 8.

LG managed to swing this last year largely thanks to its tight relationship with Google on various Nexus partnerships, but we wouldn’t be surprised if this year Samsung hasn’t tried to wrestle that special benefit from its South Korean competition’s hands. Regardless of whether LG manages a repeat of last year’s pre-installed magic trick, LG has a bit of work to do with the rest of its device updates.

With Nougat, LG got the first update out to the LG G5 on Sprint after 91 days, just two weeks after the very first update hit South Korean devices. T-Mobile followed a little over a week later, followed by Verizon immediately afterward. AT&T dropped the ball big-time, taking double the length of time it took Sprint to get Nougat out: an eye-watering 182 days (which, for comparison’s sake is the same amount of time it took for the very first Samsung device to get updated to Nougat).

For the Marshmallow update, LG was similarly speedy, taking less than two months to get it out in South Korea and just 75 days for the US, on the Sprint LG G4. Non-flagship devices have always been LG’s weak point, so being first with an update for one device isn’t exactly helpful if you don’t own the latest and greatest.

Either way, we should see the LG Android 8.0 update roll out for the LG G6 somewhere between two and a half months to three months after Google releases it. As per usual, South Korea will likely get it about two weeks earlier. That puts the first US update around October or November. As mentioned above, the V30 might well arrive with Oreo pre-installed.

Best case scenario: 2.5-3 months after Android 8.0 arrives (October/November 2017)

Sony Android 8.0 update

Sony’s decision to cancel its Concept for Android program is disappointing, but previews aside, Sony is actually getting better at updating its devices to new versions of Android, which is especially noteworthy because there are still a lot of them.

Sony announced which devices would receive the update to Android 8.0 Oreo on August 31. Those devices include:

In addition, Sony recently announced two new devices that would run Android Oreo out of the box — the Xperia XZ1 and Xperia XZ1 Compact. We’re still not sure when these devices will go on sale, though we can expect them to arrive sometime in the next couple months.

The Sony Nougat update first landed on the Xperia X Performance 99 days after Google released it, with the Xperia XZ update coming one day later. What’s perhaps more important though, is that Sony then pushed the Nougat update to even more current devices in the coming weeks, something that can’t be said of all OEMs after they get their first device over the line.

This a vast improvement over the Marshmallow update, which took five months to arrive for the Xperia Z5, Z4 Tablet and Z3+. Sony was admittedly going through a tough period at the time, so lets’ hope the company’s Nougat performance is more indicative of the new Sony approach to updates.

With this in mind, we could see the first Sony Android 8.0 update a little over three months following its official release. That puts it somewhere in the vicinity of November or December. One thing to keep in mind here is that Sony isn’t as weighed down by carrier delays as other manufacturers in the US – unfortunately because none of them seem to want to have anything to do with Sony.

Best case scenario: 3-3.5 months after Android 8.0 arrives (November/December 2017)

Motorola Android 8.0 update

Motorola has also been through a pretty tumultuous time of late, exchanging hands between Google and Lenovo, having its legendary moniker stripped and later reinstated and generally not seeming to know whether its coming or going. Some good things have managed to stay in place though, primarily the company’s ability to get out rapid updates.

Moto Z Play update tracker

Besides Motorola’s relationship with Verizon on the Droid range in the US, Moto phones typically get bought outright, meaning there’s no lengthy carrier delay for a lot of owners. But even with its carrier dependent Droid phones, Motorola still manages to get updates out quickly, a handy leftover from its time under Google’s wing and pared-back interface.

Motorola recently announced which of its devices would receive the Oreo update. Those devices include:

Moto Z2 Force – AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon
Moto Z2 Play – Verizon, unlocked
Moto Z Force – Verizon
Moto Z – Verizon, unlocked
Moto Z Play – Verizon, unlocked
Moto X4
Moto G5S Plus – unlocked
Moto G5 Plus – unlocked
Moto G5 – unlocked

Motorola was the first OEM to get the Nougat update out in the US, delivering it to the Moto Z and Moto Z Force (including the Droid versions) after just 88 days. The international unlocked update rolled out a couple of days later, putting Moto well ahead of the competition.

The Marshmallow update was a similar story, with the Moto X Pure Edition getting it in just two months. Pure Editions are no longer a thing, but Motorola has shown it can get an Android update out within two to three months of Google. Giving the company the benefit of the doubt means the first Motorola Android 8.0 update could land in October, but we’re leaning a little more towards November.

Best case scenario: 2-3 months after Android 8.0 arrives (October/November 2017)

HTC Android 8.0 update

HTC has a pretty good comeback phone on its hands with the U11, even if its massive size and large bezels stick out a little in today’s skinny bezel-less landscape. The company was one of the first to start stripping away core features and moving them into Google Play, where they could be updated independently of a major firmware update.

HTC has proven itself to be one of the more forward-thinking Android manufacturers where updates are concerned, but being adventurous sometimes leads to issues. HTC was one of a few OEMs to temporarily shut down their Nougat update due to issues that only became apparent after the rollout had begun.

HTC revealed that the HTC U11, HTC U Ultra, and HTC 10 would receive an update to Android Oreo, though a timeframe was not revealed.

Bugs notwithstanding on the Nougat rollout, HTC got it out internationally after just 95 days, with it landing on the T-Mobile HTC 10 after 138 days. T-Mobile was also the first in the US to get Nougat out to the HTC One M9, taking another two and a half months to deliver that update.

By comparison, the Marshmallow update was all over the place (if generally very promising): the HTC One M8 Google Play edition was naturally very quick out the gate, followed a few weeks later by the Developer Edition of the HTC One M9 in December. Unlocked versions of the One M9 and A9 also got updated (to Android 6.0.1 rather than 6.0) in December and most carrier-branded versions in early January.

Times have obviously changed since the good old days of Google Play and Developer Editions, meaning HTC’s Oreo performance is probably more likely to match Nougat than Marshmallow. That gives us a date of around four and a half months for the HTC Android 8.0 update, putting it somewhere around December or January.

Best case scenario: 4-5 months after Android 8.0 arrives (December 2017/January 2018)

Huawei Android 8.0 update

Huawei, like LG, sits a little outside the normal scope of Android updates because the company typically releases a device at the end of the year with the latest version of Android pre-installed. The Huawei Mate 8 had Marshmallow out of the box and the Mate 9 had Nougat on board, so we’d expect the Huawei Mate 10 to do the same.

Huawei also doesn’t have any carrier agreements in the US, selling its phones in the country unlocked. While that means there are no carrier delays imposed on Huawei’s update rollouts, the company doesn’t have the best track record where pushing updates to its US devices are concerned.

Huawei P9, P9 Plus, P9 Lite update tracker

Huawei revealed that the Honor 8 Pro and 6X will receive Android Oreo sometime before the end of 2017, though we wouldn’t be surprised if the latter device’s update was pushed back to January 2018. Of course, we also expect that the company will update quite a few other smartphones in its lineup to the latest version of Android. One of them should definitely be the popular Honor 9, although this hasn’t officially been confirmed yet.

The first Nougat update pushed out by Huawei was to the Huawei Mate 8 and P9 in China, coming three and a half months after Google released it. The first US update, as far as I can tell, came to the Huawei P9 Lite in mid-January, five months after Nougat appeared, with the Mate 9 getting a patch in early March followed by the Amazon Alexa update a couple of weeks later.

Aside from the two Honor devices listed above, it’s nearly impossible to judge a timeline for the Huawei Android 8.0 update due to the company’s lack of focus on the US market, its habit of releasing updates for select international regions (but not all), dropping early access betas and promising updates that never arrive. The Huawei Mate 10 should arrive with Oreo on board, but that’s about as accurate a prediction as we can make.

Best case scenario: 4-5 months after Android 8.0 arrives (December 2017/January 2018)

OnePlus Android 8.0 update

OnePlus does not have a good track record when it comes to Android updates, but the company is working on it.

Rumors began surfacing on September 7 that OnePlus has been testing Oreo on the OnePlus 3 in a closed beta. OnePlus also told testers that it hopes to have a stable beta by mid-September, followed by the opening of the public beta by the end of the month. As of this writing (September 17) we still have yet to hear anything regarding a beta build for the OnePlus 3. Even though this is a very ambitious timeline, OnePlus deserves kudos for working hard to get Oreo out in record time.

It’s interesting that OnePlus appears to be working on the OnePlus 3’s Oreo update, and not the souped-up 3T or the new OnePlus 5. It’s possible that development is underway for all three devices, but only the OnePlus 3 has leaked out so far.

The first open beta of Nougat was launched for the OnePlus 3 on November 30, 2016, with the stable update rolling out to the 3 and 3T on the last day of the year. The company rolled out Android 7.1.1 Nougat to both devices on March 16, 2017, roughly three months after that version became available for Google’s devices.

In the past, the company caught heavy flak over the way it handled Android updates, mainly for ditching Nougat for the OnePlus 2 (and refusing to admit it for months) and the belated release of Marshmallow for the OnePlus X. This is why many folks don’t trust OnePlus when it comes to software updates, but it is looking like things are changing for the better. Still, keep this in mind if you’re looking for an Android device that will always receive promised software updates on time.

Best case scenario: 2-3 months after Android 8.0 arrives (October/November 2017)

Essential Android 8.0 update

As a brand new smartphone manufacturer, it’s been interesting to see how Andy Rubin’s Essential has been handling software updates. Not only has the Essential Phone received numerous updates in the short amount of time it’s been available, Andy Rubin recently let users know in a Reddit AMA that Oreo would be coming in the near(ish) future.

When asked about the company’s roadmap for the Android Oreo update, Rubin let users know that Android 8.0 Oreo would be rolling out to the Essential Phone “in the next month or two.” This claim was made mid-September, so Oreo will likely roll out to the PH-1 sometime in October or November.

Best case scenario: 2.5-3 months after Android 8.0 arrives (October/November 2017)

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