ZTE Axon 7 launched with Android Marshmallow and received an update to Android Nougat in February 2017. A leaked Oreo firmware appeared in January 2018 but it was in February that the company made the beta program official in the U.S.

ZTE Axon 7 Oreo update

  • Android Oreo is now available for download

As pointed out, ZTE had been testing Android Oreo on the Axon 7 for months before a stable update was made available. What’s strange is that the update still has July’s Android security patch. Even more interesting is that the initial update isn’t accompanied by an OTA file, rather, it must be installed manually, a process that will also wipe your device. Unfortunately, this update will remove Daydream support and MiFavor Toolkit.

Some early adopters have reported issues with overheating, poor signal and audio quality, among others, so it’d be wise to wait for things to stabilize before you grab the OS via an OTA update. ZTE has detailed how to install the update in its community forums, so it shouldn’t be a problem for savvy users.

ZTE Axon 7 Pie update

  • No official Pie update is expected
  • Pie-based custom ROMs expected

The ZTE Axon 7’s update to Android 8.0 Oreo is the second and last major OS upgrade the device receives, meaning there won’t be an official update to Android 9 Pie. This, however, isn’t to say you won’t be able to install Pie on your Axon 7 handset, but of course, there will be a few hoops to jump.

Related: ZTE Android 9 Pie update news and device list

The Axon 7 is one device with an active developer community thanks to its massive popularity. That said, we expect it to get a handful of Pie-based ROMs in the future, but we don’t know when exactly. Having been part of LineageOS 15.1, we expect the Axon 7 to earn support for LineageOS 16. which is based on Pie.