Sony is releasing Android 9 for many TVs that came out in the previous four years

Sony is releasing Android version 9 for the D, E, F, and G generations of older televisions running Android TV. This specifically concerns televisions that came out in the second half of 2016 or in 2017, 2018, or 2019.

The firmware update is currently already out in Latin America and Sony has told FlatpanelsHD website that the update is also coming to Europe. It should be there before the end of this year, although no specific release date is known yet. It concerns, for example, OLED TVs such as the AF8, AG8, and the A1, but also older LCD TVs such as those from the XF90 and XD70 series. Only televisions with a diagonal of 49 “or higher will receive the update. The AF9, ZF9, AG9, XG85 and ZG9 have previously been updated to Android 9 Pie.

In addition to bug fixes and performance improvements, Android 9 Pie is introducing a 100Hz or 120Hz option for videos with the HEVC codec that are played via USB, although it is not clear which models will actually allow this. In addition, the new Android version ensures that the Video, Album and Music apps are bundled in the Media Player app.

Android 9 for televisions was already released at the end of 2018. Sony also released televisions with Android TV in 2015 and in the first half of 2016, but they don’t get Android 9, which probably has to do with the fact that these televisions still run on an older Mediatek soc.