Android Nougat moved into its fifth and final developer preview stage just this month, with the final and stable version expected to be out next month or worst case, September.
There is no official date of the release of Android Nougat, but Google is expected to release it at about the same time it unveils the successors to the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X. The Google Nexus 2016, which HTC is rumored to be working on, are expected to be here in a few months’ time, which will be the same time the OS will be coming out.
As usual, Google’s own line of Nexus devices will be the first to receive the Android Nougat treat, followed by third players such as Samsung, HTC, BlackBerry, LG, and Huawei, among many others. While most of these updates have been showing up somewhere towards Christmas and early the following year, OEMs are expected to make some shifts to this routine, with early updates expected from major players in the industry.
The first Android Nougat developer preview went live in March. The second, third, fourth and fifth have followed suit in April, May, June and July respectively. If this sequence is to be maintained, we should see a stable version of this OS this August. As noted before, Nexus handsets will be the first in line to receive the new OS. These include last year’s models as well as Nexus 6, Nexus 9, Google Pixel C and the Nexus Player. Those using the General Mobile 4G or simply Android One and the Sony Xperia Z3 with model numbers D6653 and D6603 will receive early notifications for installing Android Nougat on their devices. All of these listed phones were participants in the beta program.
Samsung
Samsung has the largest number of devices in the market and not all of them will be receiving the new Android N. However, be sure to get the OS on the likes of Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge as well as last year’s Galaxy S6 lineup and the Galaxy Note 5. It took the South Korean tech giant up to 5 months before finally rolling out Android Marshmallow, but this is highly unlikely with the release of Android N, especially after the company was sued for delaying software updates.
However much you’d like to receive the update, you may have to wait until early 2017 for it to hit the Galaxy S7. As for the unreleased Galaxy Note 7, the story will probably be the same. Samsung might also avail the update for a bunch of its mid-range handsets released in 2016, including the Galaxy A and Galaxy C series.
HTC
HTC has been vocal about its desire to see Android Nougat hit the HTC 10, HTC One A9 and the One M9 as early as this year. However, there is no specific date as to when this will happen, but HTC promised to deliver once the public version is made available by Google.
The fact that HTC is behind the production of the Google Nexus 2016 could play a huge part in this early update. Chances are that the Taiwanese company has already finalized builds of the OS with respect to the Nexus phones, which could help with the early rolling out of the same update to its compatible devices.
It is possible that HTC 10, One A9 and the One M9 could receive this update somewhere in December, but the company is expected to add to this list of phones later in 2017.
LG
LG released a near-modular G5 this year and there is no doubt that this phone is one of the best around, being its first all-metal unit. Given that the LG G4 received Marshmallow in December, you can bet on the LG G5 doing the same this year, or probably earlier depending on the exact release date of the OS. Android Nougat is also expected to hit the G4 as well as the V10, all of which are from last year. As for the LG G3, the Marshmallow update could well be the last, unless otherwise.
Huawei
Huawei has the third largest number of devices in the market, only bettered by Samsung and Apple. However, the Chinese OEM is not the best at rolling out updates to its devices, although it was among the first companies to release an Android Marshmallow-based device back in November 2015 when the Mate 8 was unveiled.
There are rumors that this device will be receiving an update at about the same time this year, meaning that it could also be the first Android partner OEM to unveil an Android Nougat handset this year. As for software updates, those using the said Huawei Mate 8 as well as the recently released Huawei P9 can expect to have them earliest in December, otherwise, this will have to wait until early 2017.
BlackBerry
BlackBerry made a huge move by announcing that it will only be coming in with new Android-powered devices this year and nothing to do with BlackBerry 10. As for now, the only Android-powered device of the company, the BlackBerry Priv, is already on Android Marshmallow. However, the update came months later, which is what you should expect with Android Nougat.
Of course, the Priv and Marshmallow were the company’s first attempt at Android updates, which could mean some changes might come in. Still, don’t get your expectations too high as the update could wait until 2017, however, the earlier the better.