Unlike previous years when Google used to showcase new Android versions at its annual I/O developer conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, the Mountain View, California-based tech giant this year chose to release the first Developer Preview of its latest flavor of Android months in advance, much to the surprise of many. According to Google’s SVP for Android, Hiroshi Lockheimer, one of the main objectives for the early release was to push updates to OEMs quicker, so that they, in turn, can then push OTA updates to consumers earlier than usual. Android 7.0 Nougat was finally released officially in August, with Nexus devices, as usual, being the first to receive the update.
Sadly, though, most manufacturers have been taking their own sweet time in rolling out Android Nougat to their respective smartphones and tablets. While only a handful of high-end devices have received the latest version of Android until now, there are encouraging signs that many more OEMs are starting to take the update process with more seriousness than they have in the past. Huawei is one such OEM that has typically been late in rolling out updates in the past, but this time around, the company seems to be doing things a little differently. Huawei recently announced its plans to roll out Android Nougat to some of its premium smartphones, starting with the Mate 8 and the P9 sometime during the first quarter of next year.
However, if a rumor doing the rounds of the Chinese tech media is anything to go by, the company may very well start rolling out Android Nougat to the two aforementioned devices tomorrow itself. The rumor apparently started after a bunch of alleged confidential documents were leaked at Huawei recntly. According to the rumor, the imminent update will come with build number B352 for the P9 and B552 for Mate 8. Whether or not there’s a shred of truth in these rumors remains to be seen, but one thing to remember here is that the news only relates to the Chinese variants of the Mate 8 and P9, so even if the alleged leaked documents turn out to be legit, there’s no telling when users in the rest of the world will start seeing the new software on their devices.