Android 5.0 Lollipop is unarguably the biggest update to Google’s mobile operating system ever. It brings a major visual overhaul and Material Design guidelines that Google will be implementing across all its other products as well to deliver a consistent user experience.
Even though Google pushed the source code of Lollipop to AOSP last week, it is yet to roll out the OTA update for the previous generation of Nexus devices, including the Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 (2013).
With Lollipop bringing some tasty new features, most users have already started wondering when their beloved Android device will get the update as well. Thankfully, most OEMs have already provided an estimated timeframe as to when their flagship device will be getting the Android 5.0 update.
Below we have compiled a list of what the major OEMs have said about their plans on bringing Lollipop to their latest and greatest hardware, which should answer your “When will my Android device get the Lollipop update?” question. For OEMs who have not yet made any public announcement, we have provided a rough estimate as to when and which devices will be upgraded to Lollipop based on their past performance.
Samsung
Samsung is the number 1 smartphone OEM in the world and dominates the Android market in terms of number of devices sold. However, the company has not announced anything about its plans on bringing Android 5.0 Lollipop to its existing devices. This is not an uncharacteristic move from the company though.
However, Samsung has always been among the first Android OEMs to update its flagship devices to the latest version of Android. With a couple of Android 5.0 firmware for the Galaxy S5 already being previewed on video which gives us a look at the TouchWiz UI, there is no doubt that Samsung will again be among the first OEMs to roll-out the Lollipop update for its flagship devices — the Galaxy S5 and Note 4.
Other Samsung devices that should get the update, include the Galaxy S4, Galaxy S5 Active, S4 Active, Galaxy Note 3 and some of its mid-range handsets.
HTC
HTC was among the first company to announce that it would be rolling out the Android 5.0 Lollipop update to the One M8 within 90 days of Google releasing the source to the public. It has also confirmed that the One Mini 2, One Max and the One M7 will be getting the Lollipop update as well.
Though not yet confirmed, the Taiwanese OEM will also update its popular mid range Desire handsets, including the Desire 816 and Desire 820 to Lollipop by next year.
A tentative timeline of when the company plans to update all the devices mentioned above and its devices leaked on the Internet earlier this week.
Motorola
Motorola has confirmed that it would be updating all its recent devices, including the Moto G (2013/14) and the Moto E, though it has not yet provided any timeframe. Last year, it was the first OEM to roll out the Android 4.4 KitKat update to the Moto X and Moto G beating even the Nexus 4. This year should be no different especially since the company already started the Lollipop soak test for the Moto X (2014) last week, and the firmware is already available for ‘Pure Edition’ Moto X owners to flash on their handset.
LG
In a press statement issued at the beginning of this week, LG stated that it would start rolling out the Android 5.0 Lollipop update for the G3 from “this week” in Poland followed by other key markets in the coming weeks and months. This makes LG the first Android OEM to publicly announce the release of Lollipop update for one of its devices — even before Google actually started rolling out the update to its Nexus devices.
LG has been traditionally slow in rolling out Android updates for its devices, but it looks like it is trying to improve. Besides the G2 getting the Lollipop update sometime next year, LG has not announced its plans on bringing the Android 5.0 update to its other devices.
Sony
Just like LG, Sony is also slow in rolling out software updates for its devices. The Japanese company has already announced that it will be bringing the Android 5.0 Lollipop update to its full Xperia Z lineup of devices, including the Xperia Z, Z1, Z1 Compact and Z1 Tablet. However, the company will only start rolling out the update from early next year presumably with its recently released Xperia Z3 line-up of devices.
The company also posted a teaser video of AOSP flavoured Android 5.0 Lollipop running on the Xperia Z1, Z2 and Z3 last week, and has promised to release a final build with all the required binaries sometime soon.
OnePlus
Even though not as big as other OEMs listed above, OnePlus values its users and has been constantly rolling out updates to improve the One. It even announced last week that it has already managed to ship half a million units of the One and is pushing for the 1 million mark before the year end.
The handset, which runs on a special flavour of CyanogenMod 11S, is slated to get the Android 5.0 Lollipop update within 90 days of Google releasing the source to public.
Nexus
One of the benefits of owning a Nexus device is that the device will always be among the first to receive the update to the latest version of Android. As rumors have suggested, Google should start rolling out the Android 5.0 Lollipop update for all its Nexus devices from November 12th (i.e. today). Keep in mind that the roll out of the OTA update itself will take at least a few weeks to get over with carriers delaying it by a few weeks in certain regions of the world.
With all the OEMs trying to outpace each other in quickly rolling out the Android 5.0 Lollipop update for their devices, it will be interesting to see if they will update their UI design language to adhere to Material Design or not.
