Asus arrests development for its Zenfone 4 Android Pie update

Asus had recently revealed plans to upgrade the Zenfone 4 and 5 series to Android 9.0 (Pie). This may have been good news for those who own these slightly older devices and find them stuck on stock Oreo (8.x) at best. Unfortunately, the OEM has walked this commitment back in relation to one of these phones: the Zenfone 4.

Despite this phone's fairly decent mid-range specs, Asus now suggests that it needs to stay on Oreo for the sake of its "stability and performance". Ironically, however, the company had gotten as far as to produce a Pie beta for this device prior to apparently giving up on it.

Asus' message on this subject, posted to its official ZenTalk forum, made no mention of the Zenfone 4's Pro, Selfie Pro or Max variants: therefore, these phones may still be on track for a stable Pie update. This latest development is particularly ironic in the face of the Zenfone 5Z's new beta for Android 10, not to mention examples of even older phones that have already received their Android Pie update.