Asus has posted in the user forum in January that Zenfone Max Plus M1 will get an upgrade to Adroid 9 Pie. That info came only months after the upgrade to Android 8.1 Oreo, which was a very unsuccessful upgrade.

Android 9 officially coming to ZenFone Max Plus M1

On February 26th, 2019, Asus finally officially announced in the ZenTalk forum the “Android 9.0 (Pie) upgrade plan for ASUS ZenFone“. The good new is that the Asus ZenFone Max Plus M1 is included on the list of phones that will get an upgrade.However, the model of the phone is named “ZenFone Max Plus (M1) Clear Soft Bumper (ZB570TL)”. The name of the phone is correct, the model name is correct, but I have never seen a reference to a “Clear Soft Bumper” before. Might it be an internal name or are there different versions of the phone out there? We’ll have to wait for the answer to this one.

The bad news is… Well, there are two pieces of bad news.

There is no fixed dates yet

First part of bad news, that is somehow expected, is that there is no estimated time frame when the update should reach the users. The post only lists the models, but there is no info on when it would happen. This is nothing unusual, but the second part of bad news might be…

Upgrade plan was deleted

If you open the above link to the official announcement you will discover that it doesn’t exist anymore. Yes, the post listing all the models that will get upgrade to Android Pie and quoted so many times by news outlets, was deleted. When I open the link to the official announcement, I get this notice:

Maybe the post was deleted or maybe it is just moderated in a way that will include dates when we should expect the upgrades?

What does it mean?

Probably not much. Asus is working on the upgrades and at one point the prospects were good, but maybe they have learned that by promising too much and breaking those promises they don’t do any good to the brand.

Official announcement

For reference, I have copied the now deleted official announcement here so it can be read even if it is now gone. I’m pasting it here so that unfortunate Max Plus M1 owners can read the (canceled?) upgrade plans for their phones and stay in the loop.

[ZenFone] Android 9.0 (Pie) upgrade plan for ASUS ZenFone

The following ASUS ZenFone models would be planned upgrade to Android 9.0 Pie at 2019.

• ZenFone 4 Max (ZC554KL)
• ZenFone 4 Selfie (ZD553KL)
• ZenFone 4 Max (ZC520KL)
• ZenFone Live (ZB553KL)
• ZenFone4 Max (ZB520KL)
• ZenFone Max Plus (M1) Clear Soft Bumper (ZB570TL)
• ZenFone 5Q (ZC600KL)
• ZenFone Live (L1) Clear Soft Bumper (ZA550KZ / ZA551KL)
• ZenFone Max Pro (ZB602KL)
• ZenFone Max Pro (ZB601KL)
• ZenFone Max (M1) Clear Soft Bumper (ZB555KL / ZB556KL)
• ZenFone 5 (ZE620KL)
• ZenFone 5Z (ZS620KL)
• ASUS ROG Phone (ZS600KL)
• ZenFone Max Pro (M2) Clear Soft Bumper (ZB631KL/ ZB630KL)
• ZenFone Max (M2) Clear Soft Bumper (ZB633KL / ZB632KL)

Current released update OS version and models:

Product Name	Model
ZenFone 4 Max	ZC554KL
ZenFone 4 Selfie	ZD553KL
ZenFone 4 Max	ZC520KL
ZenFone Live	ZB553KL
ZenFone4 Max	ZB520KL
ZenFone Max Plus (M1) Clear Soft Bumper	ZB570TL
ZenFone 5Q	ZC600KL
ZenFone Live (L1) Clear Soft Bumper	ZA550KZ / ZA551KL
ZenFone Max Pro(M1)	ZB602KL / ZB601KL
ZenFone Max (M1) Clear Soft Bumper	ZB555KL / ZB556KL
ZenFone 5	ZE620KL
ZenFone 5Z	ZS620KL
ASUS ROG Phone	ZS600KL
ZenFone Max Pro (M2) Clear Soft Bumper	ZB631KL/ ZB630KL
ZenFone Max (M2) Clear Soft Bumper	ZB633KL / ZB632KL