Carriers can now delay updates for Nexus devices

BY Rajesh Pandey

Published 4 Dec 2014

Motorola Nexus 6

One of the key advantages of buying a Nexus device has always been quick updates to the latest version of Android. Generally Google manages to roll out an OTA update to all Nexus users within two weeks of the update going live. 

However, it looks like things are about to change, and Nexus owners might have to wait a little longer for the update to land on their devices. The company today updated its support pages to state that carriers could potentially delay the roll out of an update to a Nexus device. This means that certain updates can take longer than two weeks to land on your device due to carrier interference.

Nexus 4, Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 7, Nexus 9, and Nexus 10 devices receive the latest version of Android directly from Google. Once an update is available, it can take up to two weeks for it to reach your device. Based on your carrier, it may take longer than two weeks after release to get an update.

Carriers have always been known to delay the roll out of software updates for their benefits, or ‘testing’ and ‘certification’ purposes. However, unlocked and unbranded Nexus device have been free from their reign until now, but it looks like things are going to change for worse now. Thankfully, if you are an advanced user, you can always flash the factory images manually to get a taste of the latest version of Android.

[Via Phandroid]