Android M 6.0 Update: Nexus 5/7/4/10, S6/S6 Edge, Note 5/4, LG G3, Moto X/G, One M8/M9

Android M 6.0 is now only a few days away from its official unveiling at Google I/O 2015. Let’s take a look at each of the major Android OEMs and use their history of Android updates to see what we can expect.

Android M

We’re going to be basing all of these predictions on the idea that Android M 6.0 update will be released around the October to November time frame. Android 4.4 KitKat was first released on October 31st and we saw Android 5.0 Lollipop first released on November 12th. This gives us a little more than a month for a window so we expect that our predictions will be a month off, give or take. However, even though we’re basing these predictions on past releases, anything can happen in the future. An OEM could expand or shrink their software team or they could even run into critical bugs during the development process so please keep that in mind.

Nexus

Since Google is generally the first OEM to push out updates to their devices, we wanted to start with them first. The Nexus 5 should be getting Android M 6.0 update and sadly it will probably be the last major Android update that it receives. We’re actually expecting the Nexus 5 to receive Android 6.0 M update within a week or two after it has been released. Since the Nexus 6 is newer, we are thinking that it will receive Android M before the Nexus 5(probably a few days after the initial release). If we have a 2015 Nexus smartphone released then it will most likely launch with Android M 6.0 in tow so there won’t be an OTA update for it to be had.

Samsung

Being the largest Android OEM at this time, it seems natural that we should go to them next. Samsung has had a rocky history when it comes to Android updates with them being very late to the game when it came to KitKat but relatively fast for Lollipop update. It was only a month after Android 5.0 was released that we saw Samsung push out the first Lollipop update so we are expecting to see that with Android M 6.0 update too. The first of Samsung’s devices to get Android 6.0 M will most likely be the Galaxy Note 5, and again, it is possible that it will receive the OTA update about a month after Android M is released.

A month after this, we can hope to see the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge updated to Android M too. However, this is talking about their first OTA updates. These generally happen in a test country like Poland or their home country of South Korea. It will take 2-3 months after those updates are stable before we start seeing OTA updates in major markets like the United States and the United Kingdom. The South Korean tech giant could change things up this year but we think they will continue on with how they’ve been doing things in the past. We’ll probably be waiting 4-6 months after the release of Android 6.0 M before we see anything for the Galaxy S5 and Note 4.

LG

We see the same thing with LG too. Meaning, we are expecting to see an early update released about a month after Android 6.0 M is released, but this will only go out to a test country and then hit South Korea shortly after. This update will most likely be for the LG G4 but this device might have to wait in line until after the LG G4 Note. Just like with Samsung’s 2014 flagship smartphone, we’re most likely going to be waiting 4-6 months until after the release of Android M before the LG G3 sees its first Android M update.

Motorola

We would like to say that Motorola will be on top of things when it comes to their Android 6.0 M OTA updates but they have started to slow down tremendously compared to how they used to handle updates. This isn’t to say that they are expected to be slower than LG or Samsung when it comes to major markets like the US and the United Kingdom, but we are expecting a month(probably two) before they get Android M 6.0 update out to their 2015 Moto X. Then another 2-4 months until they get OTA updates ready for their 2014 Moto X. It’s unclear if they will give the Moto X priority over the Moto G(when it comes to the year of release). This could change though, we could see Motorola getting back into the swing of things with the Android M release.

HTC

Last up we wanted to touch on HTC and see when they are expected to release their Android M updates. Last year they promised a release of Lollipop in 90 days and while they did get close, they missed that mark. This 3-month release window seems to be holding up pretty steadily though as we’re hoping to get 5.1.1 on the HTC One M8 in that time frame. So we’re looking at a January to February release of Android M for the HTC One M9. Then it will likely be another 2 months after this before the HTC One M8 is updated with Android M.