Blackberry Priv Will Officially Remain On Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow

BlackBerry recently announced that the BlackBerry Priv will never receive the Android 7.0 Nougat updates or any other upcoming Android updates from the Google OS.

Why is this thing happening?

Alex Thurber, the General Manager of Mobility Solutions recently explained why the BlackBerry Priv won’t get Android updates anymore. According to him, rolling out the Nougat update was out of the question because the complex network of product partner made BlackBerry Priv optimization impossible. As a consequence of that, the BlackBerry Priv will continue to run the Android 6.0.1 version that became available last year. The device was launched with pre-installed Android 5.0 Lollipop back in November 2015.

Does this apply to other BlackBerry devices as well?

Users may wonder if DTEK50 and DTEK60 will be able to receive Android updates in the future, and the truth is that we do not know for sure. Both devices were launched with Android 6.0 Marshmallow back in 2016 and we can’t say if the Nougat update will ever become available for them. However, Alex Thurber seemed to indicate that they won’t receive the upgrade for the same reasons.

When it comes to the BlackBerry KEYone, things look better for Android enthusiats. The Android 8.0 Oreo build will soon become available for this device. The company is still working at the last details, but the process is almost complete and the phone should receive the latest Google OS soon enough.

Will BlackBerry devices continue to receive Google support in the future?

Apparently Google has not abandoned BlackBerry so far. The executive of the company confirmed that Google security patches will be released every month for DTEK handsets. Obviously, BlackBerry will have to optimize these patches first.