The same day Google dropped the dessert naming scheme and christened its next mobile OS as Android 10, HMD Global has announced that all its current Nokia phones will receive Android 10 by mid-2020.
The release date for Android 10 is not official yet, but when it lands it’ll be on Google Pixel phones first. It’s then up to all individual Android OEMs as to when the update will come to their devices, and HMD has got straight in there with a bold promise and timeline for each specific phone.
Nokia phones were fairly fast to update from Oreo to Pie and are helped by the fact that many of them run Android One, a virtually stock version of Android that is presumably much easier to upgrade as there is no skin or front end changes to make to the software.
“We are the only manufacturer 100% committed to having the latest Android across the entire portfolio,” said Juho Sarvikas, Chief Product Officer, HMD Global. While this is not strictly true, HMD is certainly the first out the gate and if it sticks to its word, will surely be the fastest manufacturer to bring Android 10 to all its current phones. Even the £80 Nokia 1 is scheduled to get Android 10 in Q2 2020, with the first three devices – Nokia 9, 8.1 and 7.1 – down to receive it by the end of 2019.
Check out the graphic below to see when your Nokia phone is getting the update.
It usually takes more popular OEMs like Samsung and Huawei much longer (sometimes six months) to upgrade even its flagship phones to the newest version of Android, so while Nokia’s handsets are not the most exciting on the market, they are a fine, affordable choice if you don’t want a Pixel phone but value timely security and OS updates.
Author: Henry Burrell, Phones Editor
Henry is Tech Advisor’s Phones Editor, ensuring he and the team covers and reviews every smartphone worth knowing about for readers and viewers all over the world. He spends a lot of time moving between different handsets and shouting at WhatsApp to support multiple devices at once.