It’s happened again: Google has released an Android update, this time in the form of Android 12L, and it’s available to all Pixel users except Pixel 6 owners. The promise of an imminent Pixel 6 update was pushed back, but as usual, no time period was given. At the same time, Pixel 6 users are still waiting for the January security update and maybe getting impatient…
It could have been so nice: you buy a new Pixel 6, have peace of mind for the next three years and get all updates from Google delivered punctually like Swiss clockwork. Unfortunately, neither is the case yet, because many users not only suffer from the problems but also the updates come with a significant delay or not at all. This is becoming very clear again this week.
Where is Android 12L?
Google has released the second Android 12L beta, which again has some interesting innovations in its luggage. It’s already the second beta and including the previews is already the third version. It can still be installed on Pixel 3a to Pixel 5a but is not available on Pixel 6. This is supposed to change “soon”, but time is running out until the expected release at the beginning of March.
Not that you would necessarily need Android 12L as a Pixel 6 user, but in such cases, it is often more about being able than wanting to. Google doesn’t give buyers of the latest generation of smartphones the opportunity to try out Android 12L. The buyers have certainly imagined differently.
Waiting for the January update
Google last week released the Android security update for the month of January and has already left out the Pixel 6 smartphones. The plan was to start rolling out “next week”, but today is Thursday of next week and such updates are more likely to be released at the beginning of the week. I would no longer assume that it will come this week. You will have to follow the previous statement that the update will be rolled out “by the end of the month”. So when everyone else is already waiting for the February update…
You could get over it once, but even the December update was only received by very few users and has now been completely withdrawn. So in mid-January, users are still where they were in early November, putting them in a similar situation to buyers of all other smartphone brands. So far, the promised update advantage has not taken effect at all, which should be very annoying, especially for first-time buyers who finally wanted to “calm themselves in safety” in the Google universe.
It cannot be assumed that this will change in the next month because Google would hardly roll out the update at the end of January if the next update is just around the corner a week later – at the beginning of February.