History repeats itself, and it shouldn't be too surprising. The first versions of Ubuntu Touch were based on 16.04 Xenial Xerus, and they didn't make the jump to Focal until that version stopped receiving support. In fact, by the time they did, it was no longer supported. I mention this because a few moments ago They have published the release note of Free Touch OTA-9 and it has been mentioned that no major changes have been made because they are focused on raising the base.
Now, the next jump will be the right one. they have confirmed which will be upgraded from 20.04 to 24.04 — the latest LTS —, so if it is released in 2025 as expected, a version of Ubuntu will be used as a base that will still enjoy support for around 4 years. That said, let's move on to the most outstanding news which have arrived with Ubuntu Touch OTA-9 Focal.
Ubuntu Touch OTA-9 Focal Highlights
This version, which arrived three months after the earlier version, is now supported by the following devices:
- Supported by:
- Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1.
- F(x)tec Pro1 X.
- Fairphone 3 and 3+.
- Fairphone 4.
- Google Pixel 3a and 3a XL.
- JingPad A1.
- Lenovo Tab M10 HD 2nd Gen WiFi/LTE.
- Oneplus 5 and 5T.
- OnePlus 6 and 6T.
- OnePlus Nord N10 5G.
- OnePlus North N100.
- Sony Xperia
- Volla Phone.
- Volla Phone X.
- Volla Phone 22.
- Volla Phone X23.
- Volla Phone Quintus.
- Volla Tablet.
- Xiaomi Poco M2 Pro.
- Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC / X3.
- Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro/Pro Max/9S.
- Xiaomi Redmi 9 and 9 Prime.
- VoLTE support has been updated to work by default with more carriers
- Waydroid has been updated to version 1.5.1, with initial support for the upcoming official Android 13 images, among other fixes.
- The font for emojis has changed from Emoji One to Noto Color Emoji, with better support for some new emoji.
- General bug fixes and security updates, both from Ubuntu and UBports.
Users on the stable channel will receive the new version in the next few hours via system settings.