Travel back to October 2015, when the HTC A9 was shiny and new. Amid the controversy about the price and availability — too much and too little — or how it was just a copy of the iPhone that was just a copy of the HTC M9, there was a small glowing nugget of sunshine. A promise of software updates within 15 days of Google's official phones.
Did you hear that? The Unlocked A9 will receive every Google SW update within 15 days of Nexus devices! #BeBrilliant
— HTC USA (@HTCUSA) October 20, 2015
At the time, I was skeptical and took this to mean monthly updates (which didn't happen either) because of the way Android is developed in the Google vacuum instead of out in the public like a proper open-source thing. There would be too many things to go wrong, and when they all went wrong there was no way Google was going to hold off updating a phone because HTC needed more time. In any case, none of it matters now.
HTC tweeted a small and generic update schedule for the phones they are planning to update to Android 7.0, and we're going to be waiting to see anything for the A9 until sometime after the HTC 10 gets updated in Q4 (October, November, and December) of 2016. I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is and I can count to 15. HTC was able to give us a statement when we asked about the discrepancy.
With the excitement around Android Nougat, we're aligning engineering resources around our most popular flagship products where the most customers will benefit.
This doesn't matter. Waiting for an update never hurt anyone, and even if they wait until the very last day in 2016 the A9 will get updated long before many other phones. But HTC has been in this game long enough to know that when they put a number or a date on anything, the internet will roast them when they miss it.
