Asus ZenFone 5Z will be getting the Android 9 Pie update in January 2019
Asus, today, detailed its plans for releasing the much awaited Android 9 Pie update for the flagship ZenFone 5Z smartphone. The company will be rolling the latest Android OS update in batches starting sometime at the end of January 2019 via an FOTA update. Asus hasn't provided a detailed changelog yet but said that the new update will bring a new contextual pop-up volume bar and a new Magnifier feature for easier copy and paste.
The ZenFone 5Z brought a lot of competition to the flagship-killer market by taking the OnePlus 6 head-on. It was soon greeted by the Xiaomi Poco F1, which promised even more value for money. However, unlike the ZenFone 5Z, the OnePlus 6 is already on Android Pie while beta-testing is underway for Android Pie-based MIUI 10 for the Poco F1. Asus surely seems to be lagging behind in this regard. It is also to be noted that Asus chose to skip the Android 8.1 Oreo update for a direct jump to Android 9 Pie.
Asus says that the ZenFone 5Z will automatically notify the user once the update is available for download. The auto update process will last for about a week. Users can try manually updating if they don't receive a notification by then.
Asus hasn't detailed when Android Pie will roll out for other phones in the series such as the mid-range ZenFone 5 and the budget-oriented ZenFone 5 Lite (L1) and ZenFone Max (M1). Given that the update is rolling out to the ZenFone 5Z by end of January, we expect other variants will soon follow suit. It remains to be seen how long will Asus support the ZenFone 5Z with software updates, considering that the ZenFone 6 will already be ready for unveiling at MWC 2019 by the time existing ZenFone 5 phones receive Android Pie.
Source(s)
Asus Press Release
