Some of HTC’s most popular smartphones are going to receive Android 5.0 Lollipop in the very near future. We have been following the Lollipop release progress for HTC One (M7) and (M8) for quite some time now and currently this update is expected to land in the first week of January. The update won’t bring a new version of the Sense UI though, that’s rumored to come around May 2015.
Sense UI is the custom skin that HTC slaps on top of Android on its devices. Its certainly not the only manufacturer to do this rather its a common practice among OEMs to differentiate their products by offering different features through their custom Android skins.
Usually HTC’s devices receive a major Sense UI update whenever a new iteration of Android is released, so there would have been nothing wrong in expecting Sense 7 to land with Android 5.0 Lollipop. That’s not the case though. For HTC One (M7) and (M8) Sense 7 is expected to arrive in May next year.
This information comes from well known developer LlabTooFeR, who has been right about HTC-related leaks in the past, and the developer says that Sense 7 will first ship with the HTC Hima or the HTC One (M9).
Once that happens the new user interface will then be released for existing devices like the One (M8) and One (M7), apart from supported devices from the company’s 2014 lineup.
HTC hasn’t confirmed anything about the Hima as yet but its believed to be the next flagship which may be unveiled at MWC 2015 in Barcelona.
Filed in . Read more about Android 5.0, HTC One (M8) and Htc One M8.