The Moto X Play has made an appearance on GFXbench but what is different now is that the smartphone is running Android 7.1.1. The release date of the X Play Nougat update is projected to at early 2017, maybe the end of January or so.

While the Moto X Play was expected to receive the Nougat update as Android 7.0, but now it looks like the tides have changed and we may see Motorola skip the 7.0 in favor of Android 7.1.1 directly.

Based on this conjecture its safe to predict that the rest of the Motorola lineup for the Nougat update will also get the upgrade to Android 7.1.1. So, we may see devices like Moto X Play, Moto X Force, Moto X Pure and even Moto Z Play receive the 7.1.1 OTA directly in place of 7.0, and then 7.1.1. This also clarifies our confusion, which began with Google releasing the Pixel with Android 7.1.1.

Also read: Motorola Nougat update release

This is also in line with how other OEMs are planning to update their devices for 2017. Sony is also expected to release Android 7.1.1 Nougat directly, while same is also the case with Samsung Galaxy S7, as both OEMs have confirmed this.

That said, Motorola recently rolled out Moto G4 Plus Nougat in India, while it had already released the update for Verizon Moto Z and Z Force, both based on Android 7.0.

Talking about Nougat release dates, ZTE is beta testing Nougat for the Axon 7. While the competition is gearing up for solid OTA released, Asus too is still beta testing for the Zenfone 3. Given Asus’ history, this could take some time. Xiaomi has officially released Android 7.0 Nougat for the Mi5.