Google has just released the factory images and security bulletin for the May 2016 Android Security Update. Those who want to manually flash their Nexus devices to the latest build can get the images to do so while those who want to wait until the OTA is available will have a few more days or weeks to wait. The update is a fairly big one with 25 fixes for security issues. Once it is available via an OTA, it is highly recommended that users download it and apply it to their devices. Of the 25 updates in the release, 6 were marked as critical and mostly focus on elevation of permissions or remote code execution. Most users will never see these issues but Google and those who help them “bug hunt” continually work to close any potential issues before a customer encounters them.
All of the details of the update can be found in the Android Security Bulletin for the update. For those who want to apply the update to their devices, here is the rundown of the newest builds for
Android Marshmallow
eligible devices.
- Pixel C – MXC89F
- Nexus 6P – MTC19T
- Nexus 5X – MTC19T
- Nexus 6 – MOB30I
- Nexus 9 LTE or Wi-Fi – MOB30G
- Nexus 7 (2013) – MOB30J
As for when you will see the update if you wait for the OTA will vary from user-to-user and device-to-device. It is not uncommon for the Pixel C, 6P and 5X to see the update the same week as release while older devices seem to take a bit longer. The bottom line is, you will get the update eventually if you want to wait.
