Android Nougat to miss Sony Xperia Z3 range?

Google has finally released Android Nougat (7.0) to Nexus devices, but third-party manufacturers are another matter entirely. Nevertheless, Sony has stepped up to the plate by revealing which Sony Xperia smartphones will be getting the update.

“We will make Android 7.0, Nougat available for: Xperia Z3+, Xperia Z4 Tablet, Xperia Z5, Xperia Z5 Compact, Xperia Z5 Premium, Xperia X, Xperia XA, Xperia XA Ultra and Xperia X Performance,” the company wrote on its blog.

Sony Xperia Z3 could miss out on Android Nougat, perhaps thanks to the Snapdragon 801

It cautioned that timing and availability of the update will vary by country and operator, adding that “some operator/market exceptions will apply”.

Related: Sony Xperia Z3 Compact long-term review: sexy, submersible, sensational

It’s also worth noting that Sony’s Xperia Z2, launched in early 2014 and running a capable Snapdragon 801/3GB RAM combination, isn’t supported. More concerning though is that the Z3 range, launched in October 2014, and running the same hardware for the most part, isn’t supported either.

A question of technical requirements?

What could be the reason for omitting the Z2 and Z3 range then? Well, it seems like there is some debate as to whether Vulkan/general graphical API issues with the Snapdragon 800/801 chips are to blame.

ROM developer LlabToofEr claimed that the issue was Qualcomm’s fault.

“Qualcomm will not release graphics drivers for 800/801 CPUs.So HTC One M8 and other devices based on this CPU won’t get official Android 7.0,” the developer tweeted.

If confirmed, this means that devices such as the Xiaomi Mi 4, HTC One M8, the new OnePlus X and scores of other handsets won’t be supported.

Most of these devices are already over two years old but, again, you can’t help but look to Apple and their support of older handsets…

Featured image: Maurizio Pesce via Flickr