OnePlus Android 6.0 Marshmallow Update Details Emerge

Over the past two years the company OnePlus has released two excellent smartphones that surprised many who’d typically get a Samsung Galaxy S6, or something from Motorola. Those being the original OnePlus One, and the new OnePlus 2 released earlier this year. They’re both still very popular, and today we finally received good news regarding the OnePlus Android 6.0 Marshmallow update.

The new OnePlus 2 was released earlier this year back in August, but had a few problems with pre-orders, inventory running low and more, making the impressive $389 flagship smartphone hard to come by. Now though, millions of owners are enjoying it, but are waiting for an update to the latest version of Android.

Read: OnePlus 2 Hands-on & First Impressions

The flagship OnePlus 2 features a 5.5-inch smartphone and tons of top-tier specs across the board, including an excellent camera and fingerprint scanner, all of which will benefit from the incoming software update. Those with the original, and the new OnePlus 2, will want to read on for more details.

Originally many were expecting the OnePlus Android 6.0 Marshmallow update to arrive in 2015, considering the phone runs nearly stock Android, without a huge skin or overlay like a Samsung or HTC smartphone. However, the phone ships with the popular CyanogenMod OS, or OnePlus’ own “OxygenOS” which isn’t getting an update as fast as we all hoped.

Today we learned that the original OnePlus will get Android 6.0 Marshmallow first, as it’s the older device, then the new OnePlus 2 should get it next, both sometime in Q1 of 2016. Meaning it could arrive in January, or sometime before March comes to a close. No exact release date was given. This is good news in a sense, but also not to best news, considering the update could still be four months away.

Announced over at the OnePlus forum by Carl Pei, confirming the OnePlus will receive Android 6.0 via Cyanogen OS in the first quarter of 2016. There’s a community build of the Oxygen OS floating around with Android 6.0, but that isn’t the software the phone comes with, so it won’t be released.

Then more importantly, the newer OnePlus 2 will also see an update to Google’s latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow sometime in Q1 of 2016. But again, no exact date was given. On the bright side, OnePlus confirmed the update for the OnePlus 2 will switch the software to Android 6.0 Marshmallow’s stock API for the fingerprint scanner. Meaning the OnePlus 2 fingerprint sensor should be much improved after the update arrives next year.

Read: Android 6.0 vs Android 5.1 Lollipop: What’s New in Marshmallow

The update to Android 6.0 Marshmallow brings a slew of new features, changes, and small tweaks. And while most of them are detailed above, there will also likely be some bug fixes and improvements specifically for each phone.

Users can expect improved performance, better battery life with Android 6.0 Marshmallow thanks to the “Doze” feature. Google Now on Tap, improved volume and permission controls, a better fingerprint scanner and more. Just to name a few.

CyanogenMod has been working hard on the latest release of Android 6.0 Marshmallow, but ever since going from a community fan-made custom ROM to an actually company, has caused development to slow down a bit. That being said, the update should arrive for both phones sometime in early 2016. Hopefully before the end of January.

In closing, OnePlus did add the new smaller OnePlus X to the Marshmallow update image, but didn’t have any exact details regarding when it’s latest phone would see an update. All we have for now is they are “working hard to bring Marshmallow as soon as possible” to those who’ve purchased the new OnePlus X.