Huawei’s Android Nougat plans have been announced and the P8 won't get it

Huawei has announced plans for its next big software rollout, which will bring Android Nougat to most of its phones. But two of its major recent flagships won't receive the upgrade.

The Huawei Mate 8 and Huawei P9 will first receive the Emotion UI 5.0 update by March 2017. It will then be followed by the Huawei P9 Plus, P9 Lite, Huawei Nova and the Huawei Nova Plus later in the year.

The notable missing phones are the Huawei P8 and Mate S

The P8 is only a year-and-a-half old - it was announced in April 2015 - while the Mate S is even more recent being released in September 2015.

Disappointing for some

Why these quite recent phones won't be upgraded is currently unclear. It may be Huawei is planning to upgrade both and hasn't included either on the update list yet, but considering the Nova phones are listed it suggests this is the full upgrade plan.

TechRadar has asked Huawei whether it plans to upgrade the P8 and Mate S.

Emotion UI 5.0 is the name of the update coming to Huawei phones and it brings all of the features Android 7 offers. It also includes an app drawer for the very first time and Huawei also claims you can reach 90% of each phone’s core functions with only two or three taps.

If you're after a Huawei phone with the latest software, the Mate 9 already has it installed and ready to go.

James Peckham

James is Managing Editor for Android Police. Previously, he was Senior Phones Editor for TechRadar, and he has covered smartphones and the mobile space for the best part of a decade bringing you news on all the big announcements from top manufacturers making mobile phones and other portable gadgets. James is often testing out and reviewing the latest and greatest mobile phones, smartwatches, tablets, virtual reality headsets, fitness trackers and more. He once fell over.