Sony doesn’t have so many smartphones on the market. In fact, the new Sony Xperia X series only has a handful of phones and this is perhaps what’s making the company quite impressive when it comes to software updates, at least in the recent times.
Unlike other OEMs, Sony has been busy taking care of both high-end and entry-level handsets it has in the Xperia X series. Over the recent week, the likes of Sony Xperia XZs, Xperia XZ Premium, and Xperia XZ1 have been treated with this month’s Android security patch. Well, now that the OEM is done with the high-end family, it has turned attention to the Xperia XA1 series, which is this year’s midrange family.
As at the time of this writing, the Sony Xperia XA1, Xperia XA1 Plus and Xperia XA1 Ultra are all getting new security patches for the month of December. The phones are still based on Android Nougat, so don’t expect any drastic changes after the update. The patches are dated December 5 2017 and they carry firmware versions 40.0.A.6.175 for the standard XA1, 48.0.A.1.117 for the XA1 Plus and 42.0.A.4.153 for Xperia XA1 Ultra.
Note that even though these are just security updates, the file sizes can be as huge as 400MB+, so be sure to connect to the internet using a Wi-Fi hotspot. Also, keep the phone’s battery power above 50%, even if it means charging it while downloading and installing the update.
These are OTA updates and as such, not all Xperia XA1 devices will get the OTA notification at once. It’ll take some time, probably days or maybe a week, before all units get the OTA notification. Still, you can jump the queue by heading to your phone’s Settings menu for a manual update.