HTC One M7 & One M8 Android 5.0 Lollipop Update Delayed

There is some sad news for some of you HTC One M7 & One M8 owners out there. HTC has officially confirmed that it will not be able to live up to its promise of releasing the Android 5.0 Lollipop update for the smartphones within 90 days of the latest version’s release from Google.

In a blog post by HTC’s Senior Vice President of product management, Mo Versi, HTC has claimed that the update has been delayed as some issues with Android 5.0 Lollipop need to be addressed before the update can be rolled out to customers. HTC is said to including a number of fixes to the issues with Lollipop and thus it expects that certain carrier versions of the One M7 and One M8 smartphones will not be receiving the Android Lollipop update within the 90 day timeframe that it had promised last year. HTC was in fact the first major Android OEM to detail its Lollipop update plans last year, and claimed that its flagship smartphones will receive the Lollipop update within 90 days of its release by Google.

This doesn’t affect the unlocked units though. Unlocked HTC One M8 owners in Canada and Europe have started receiving the Android 5.0 Lollipop update and we expect the update to roll out in more regions in the next few days. In Canada, most carrier variants of the One M8 have also started receiving the Lollipop update. Developer Edition of the One M8 has also been updated to Android 5.0 already. Owners of the HTC One M7 unlocked model can expect to receive the Android Lollipop soon as well, although it does look like the unlocked One M7 may have to wait longer than the 90 days promised by HTC earlier as the 90-day deadline ends on February 1.

Ever since HTC announced delays when releasing the Android Lollipop update to the Google Play Edition models of the One M7 and One M8 last year, we were worried that the same may happen with update for the regular variants. Unfortunately, that is exactly what is happening now.

HTC hasn’t provided a new timeframe now so we cannot be sure when the update will roll out now for the owners of carrier variants of the One M7 and One M8 smartphone. Update delays for carrier variants is nothing new at the same is the case with most smartphones. Since the carriers need to test a software update themselves for a few weeks before they release it to their customers, the update rollout is delayed for the carrier variants.

However, if you do not wish to wait and want to enjoy Android 5.0 Lollipop on your One M7 or One M8, you do have the option of flashing one of the many functional CM12 ports available on XDA. However, you will require an unlocked Bootloader for it, so if you have a locked Bootloader, you will need to wait until HTC releases the official update in the next few weeks.