Huawei and Samsung, the two leading Android smartphone vendors, didn’t have a device in the early Android Pie beta program that kicked off in May 2018. But unlike the latter, the Chinese company has been swift to roll out a beta version of the OS to a good number of its flagship phones, both from this year and last year.
Last year’s Huawei Mate 10, Mate 10 Pro, Mate 10 Porsche Design, and Honor View 10 were joined in the company’s EMUI 9.0 beta program by this year’s Huawei P20, P20 Pro, Mate RS Porsche Design, Honor 10, and Honor Play in the initial rollout. They were later joined by the P10, P10 Plus, Mate 9, Mate 9 Pro, Mate 9 Porsche Design, Nova 3, Nova 2S, Honor 9, Honor V9, Honor Note 10 and MediaPad M5. Of course, the former camp was always gonna get the stable release ahead of the latter and indeed, this is the case, where a stable update is currently available in China for the first batch.
However, this update is still been limited to a few units of the Huawei P20, P20 Pro, Mate RS Porsche Design, Mate 10, Mate 10 Pro, Mate 10 Porsche Design, Honor 10, Honor V10, and Honor Play. This is for precaution purposes such that just in case something goes wrong, the damage would be easier to contain on a smaller group of affected users.
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Though, if all goes according to plan, Huawei further says the stable EMUI 9.0 update will be opened to the public on November 10th, which is next Saturday. As for the second batch, the stable rollout should be ready somewhere in December 2018, which could make Huawei one of the fastest in rolling out Android 9 Pie updates to eligible devices.
In contrast, Samsung has yet to commence the beta testing program and when it begins, it is reported that only the Galaxy S9 and S9+ will be allowed into the program. Not even the premium Galaxy Note 9 will be let in, leave alone the Note 8, S8 and S8+. What a shame, Samsung!
Related: Samsung Android 9 beta program: When will Galaxy S9, S8, Note 9, and Note 8 get it?
