We can appreciate that Android updates are important to ZenFone owners. If you are upset with the news we are about to share, consider that Android updates are slow no matter what manufacturer or company you’re dealing with. These things take time and even with Google’s attempts at making the process less painful for companies, it seems that updating Android is tricky. Ask yourself whether a stable, bug free OS is better than a buggy updated Android OS.
ASUS has officially confirmed that Android 9.0 Pie is coming to the following ZenFone models. Note that some models will get the update by April 15, 2019 according to ASUS.
- Zenfone 4 Max
- Zenfone 4 Selfie
- Zenfone 4 Max
- Zenfone Live
- Zenfone 4 Max
- Zenfone Max Plus (M1)
- Zenfone 5Q
- Zenfone Live (L1)
- Zenfone Max Pro (M1) – by April 15, 2019
- Zenfone Max (M1)
- Zenfone 5
- Zenfone 5Z
- Asus ROG Phone
- Zenfone Max Pro (M2) – by April 15, 2019
- Zenfone Max (M2) – by April 15, 2019
With price drops expected for older stock ZenFone models, this list should provide some useful guidance. Note that the ZenFone 4 Pro and ZenFone AR are not included in this list. It’s still unclear when ASUS will be shifting resources out of the mobile phone division because certainly that will have an impact on updates if a majority of personnel involved with software are shifted to other divisions of ASUS.
We will update this list as we move through 2019.
Though it’s good to see them continuing to support devices with updates, it is quite frustrating for some when the update is a long time coming and no proper communication.
A perfect example is the 5Q. It launched on 7.1.1 with promise of upgrade to android 8 being imminent which never happened. Over a year after release it’s still on 7.1.1 with 9 being promised and still nothing halfway through may 2019. Honestly a sad state for a decent mid range device launched in 2018
What I’m hoping is that fewer ZenFone models will result in better overall support. I know this new ZenFone 6 is part of the Google upgrade program and will get the next 2 updates. I have a ZenFone AR and it’s not getting any updates but at the same time, considering what I paid for it, I’m okay with it as is. If apps stop working on this version of Android then I’ll have complaints. Lastly, updates aren’t always the best thing either because people have noticed bugs of plenty with some recent ZenFone updates. I agree with your point though. ASUS needs to tidy things up and communicate better. Thanks for visiting and commenting!