HTC U11 may be the next smartphone after HTC U11 Life to be upgraded to the Android Pie OS by the Taiwanese company.
This information has emerged out of the Geekbench site where the OS can be seen as Android Pie. HTC U11 is just one of the many HTC devices that are slated to get Pie upgrade but we can now expect HTC U11 to be the second device after the HTC U11 Life to get the major OS upgrade.
HTC a Bit Slow Off-the-Block
Though it is known that HTC no longer enjoys that coveted position in the smartphone brands’ hierarchy, the Taiwanese company appears to be lagging far behind in upgrading its devices in the market to the latest OS version. Incidentally, thanks to the fragile position it finds itself in, the number of devices and models to be covered under the OS upgrade program aren’t very large in number either.
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Though the company had officially published a list of devices lined up for the software upgrade in a tweet back in August 2018, HTC has been very slow in upgrading to say the least.
We're pleased as pie to confirm updates to Android Pie for the HTC U12+, U11+, U11, and U11 life (Android One). Timeframes for roll-out will be announced in due course.
We can't wait to know what you think of Google's freshest slice of Android! pic.twitter.com/mPJePFegne
— HTC (@htc) August 10, 2018
As of date, only the HTC U11 Life has been upgraded. And that, observers point out is because, it is an Android One phone and with the stock Android version requiring very little tweaking at the phone makers’ end. HTC would have therefore found it quite easy to release the update. And though the HTC U11 Life received this upgrade in late November, the accompanying security patches were of October 2018. That’s the kind of slowness exhibited by HTC.
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HTC Phones to get Android Pie Update in Future
Among the next set of phones lined up for firmware upgrade are the HTC U12+, HTC U11+ and HTC U11. These were expected to be upgraded in the last quarter of 2018 but are yet to receive the update. Of these three, the HTC U11 can now be expected to be the first one that will receive the Android Pie in Q1 2019. The Geekbench listing might be an indication of this. The other two may follow immediately after that.
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When the operating systems are first loaded on the devices, each manufacturer does some tweaking on it to suit their devices. When Google launches a newer version, the device makers have to again do that kind of reworking to incorporate the key changes to their devices. That does take some time. But some phone manufacturers have been found to be pretty quick in making those changes and reaching the firmware updates along with bug resolution patches and Android security patches through the OTA process.