Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment (ZTE) Corporation is a Chinese multinational telecommunications equipment which stands fourth when it comes to mobile production. ZTE concentrated mainly on the mid-range until recently, with launch of its premier Axon series.
As far as OS upgrades are concerned, ZTE has been a let-down so far, but things seems to be changing for good with Axon 7 Max, set to launch in December, 2017 with Nougat pre-installed. There are still no official announcements from ZTE about upgrades on existing devices, but speculations are rife. ZTE uses the MiFavor Android skin, which had bloatware issues till recently, but seems to have fixed things with the recent MiFavor 4.0, which is closer to stock Android.
ZTE Android 7.0 Nougat Update List
Device | Android Version | Release details | Android 7.0 Nougat update |
Axon 7 | Android 7.0 | Likely to receive upgrade from Marshmallow in Q1 2017 | Yes |
Axon 7 Max | Android 7.1 | Expected to be launched in December with Nougat 7.0 pre-installed, likely to be updated to 7.1 by March 2017 | Yes |
Axon 7 mini | Android 7.0 | Unlikely to receive further updates from Marshmallow | No |
Axon Elite | Android 7.0 | Unlikely to receive further updates | No |
Axon Lux | Android 7.0 | Unlikely to receive further updates | No |
Axon Max | Android 7.0 | Unlikely to receive further updates | No |
Axon mini | Android 7.0 | Unlikely to receive further updates | No |
Axon Pro | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Axon | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Avid Plus | Android 7.0 | Budget phone unlikely to receive further updates | No |
Blade V7 Max | Android 7.0 | Unlikely to receive further updates from Marshmallow | No |
Blade V7 Lite | Android 7.0 | Unlikely to receive further updates from Marshmallow | No |
Blade V7 | Android 7.0 | Likely to receive further updates from Marshmallow in Q2 2017 | Likely |
Blade V Plus | Android 7.0 | Unlikely to receive further updates | No |
Blade X9 | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Blade X5 | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Blade X3 | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Blade S7 | Android 7.0 | Unlikely to receive further updates | No |
Blade S6 Plus | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Blade S6 | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Blade Qlux 4G | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Blade Q Pro | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Blade L5 Plus | Android 7.0 | Budget phone unlikely to receive further updates | No |
Blade L3 Plus | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Blade L3 | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Blade G Lux | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Blade G | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Blade D6 | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Blade Apex 3 | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Blade A610 | Android 7.0 | Budget phone unlikely to receive further updates | No |
Blade A512 | Android 7.0 | Budget phone unlikely to receive further updates | No |
Blade A460 | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Blade A452 | Android 7.0 | Budget phone unlikely to receive further updates | No |
Blade A410 | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Blade A2 | Android 7.0 | Budget phone unlikely to receive further updates | No |
Boost Max+ | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Grand X2 | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Grand X Max+ | Android 7.0 | Unlikely to receive further updates | No |
Grand X Max 2 | Android 7.0 | Unlikely to receive further updates from Marshmallow | Unlikely |
Grand X 3 | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Grand S3 | Android 7.0 | The older phone won’t receive further updates with unsupported hardware | No |
Imperial II | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Maven | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Nubia Z11 mini S | Android 7.0 | Unlikely to receive further updates from Marshmallow | No |
Nubia Z11 mini | Android 7.0 | Unlikely to receive further updates | No |
Nubia Z11 Max | Android 7.0 | Unlikely to receive further updates | No |
Nubia Z11 | Android 7.0 | Likely to receive upgrade from Marshmallow in Q2 2017 | Likely |
Nubia Z9 mini | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Nubia Z9 Max | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Nubia Z9 | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Nubia Prague S | Android 7.0 | Unlikely to receive further updates | No |
Nubia N1 | Android 7.0 | Unlikely to receive further updates from Marshmallow | Unlikely |
Nubia My Prague | Android 7.0 | Unlikely to receive further updates | No |
Obsidian | Android 7.0 | The older budget phone won’t receive further updates. | No |
Sonata 2 | Android 7.0 | Budget phone unlikely to receive update from Marshmallow | Unlikely |
V5 Lux | Android 7.0 | Unsupported hardware of the phone won’t receive upgrade from Marshmallow | No |
Warp 7 | Android 7.0 | Unsupported hardware and budget phone won’t receive upgrade from Marshmallow | No |
Zmax Pro | Android 7.0 | Budget phone likely to receive update from Marshmallow by Q2 2017 | Likely |
Zmax 2 | Android 7.0 | Unsupported hardware and budget phone won’t receive upgrade from Marshmallow | No |
ZTE Axon Series
The premium series of ZTE, will be first in line to receive Nougat updates. In fact, Axon 7 Max, is set to launch in December with Nougat OS. The device should likely receive Nougat 7.1.1 by February, 2017. The current flagship Axon 7 should receive Nougat update in Q1 2017. However, the Axon 7 mini is unlikely to receive Nougat as ZTE looks unlikely to invest further on the budget version.
The older Axons, Axon/Axon Pro/Axon Mini/Axon Max/Axon Pro all are unlikely to receive updates, considering ZTE’s pattern of launching devices with newer upgrades, rather than updating the older ones.
ZTE Blade Series
The Blade V7 is likely to receive Nougat update in Q2 2017, but its variants Blade V7 Lite/ V7 Max may have to stay in Marshmallow. The older Blade V Plus can be ruled out from Nougat probability.
The Blade X9/X5/X3 are all older budget devices, unlikely to attract ZTE attraction further.
The Blade S7/S6/S6 Plus are also unlikely to get any attention from ZTE in OS upgrade.
The Blade G/G Lux/L3/L3 Plus/L5 Plus/Q Pro/Qlux 4G are also budget phones, which won’t see Nougat in them.
The Blade A2/A410/A452A460A512/A610/Apex 3/D6 are all unlikely to receive Nougat updates.
ZTE Grand Series
The Grand series has one representation in the Marshmallow family Grand X Max 2, which itself is unlikely to receive upgrades, so you can forget about your Grand S3/X3/X2. Launched along with, Grand X Max 2, Grand X Max+ didn’t receive Marshmallow, so no questions about Nougat.
ZTE Nubia Series
The Nubia Z11 is expected to receive the Nougat boost in Q2 2017. However, its variants, namely Nubia Z11 Max/Z11 mini/Z11 mini s may have to stay in Marshmallow. Having said that, the Nubia Z9/Z9 Max/Z9 mini/Nubia My Prague, all of which are older and mid-range won’t see Nougat in them. The Nubia N1 is also most likely to stay in Marshmallow in spite of a capable SoC, being in the budget range.
Other ZTE 2016 launches
The Zmax Pro is likely to receive Nougat in Q2 2017, but the unsupported hardware rules out the probability in Zmax 2/Warp 7/V5 Lux/Sonata 2.
ZTE Miscellaneous
The ZTE Obsidian/Maven/Imperial II/Boost Max+/Avid Plus are all older phones which are not going to get OS upgrade attention from ZTE ever again.
ZTE has been reluctant in upgrading OS in current devices and has been following the trend of launching new devices with newer version of Android. You should be curious to have a look at how Nougat is gonna look in ZTE devices here. We expect ZTE to improve its Nougat reach in the coming days, with Google insisting OEMs to provide updates for devices for at least two years.
Discussion