Unlocked Moto Z in the US gets Nougat next month, Moto Z Play in March

If you're in the US and own a Moto Z bought unlocked, you may have been very surprised to see Verizon's version of the device already rocking Android 7.0 Nougat while your unit is still stuck on Marshmallow. This is anything but usual in the mobile world, where updates usually roll out to unlocked units first, because there are no lengthy carrier testing periods for those. Carrier-specific models often trail unlocked ones by many weeks, or sometimes even months, in this regard.

Yet because Verizon's Moto Z was launched well before the unlocked model, the two are being worked on by separate software teams, it turns out. That apparently has something to do with why the unlocked variant is still on Marshmallow. Things will change soon, however. According to a Motorola spokesperson, the unlocked Moto Z devices sold in the US will finally receive the update to Android 7.0 Nougat in February.

On the other hand, the Moto Z Play should taste the same treat a month later, in March. In this case we're talking about both models, Verizon's and the unlocked one. They might even be updated at the same time, though this has only been hinted at, and not straight-up confirmed. Unfortunately less vague time frames haven't been provided yet for either the Z or the Z Play, so for now this is all we've got.

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