Global Xperia Z5 series now receiving Android Marshmallow (32.1.A.1.163)

The Sony Xperia Android 6.0 Marshmallow rollout officially begins today for most. Last week we saw the update land on Japanese NTT docomo Xperia Z5 devices, but today the update has started for the global variants. At the time of writing, firmware build 32.1.A.1.163 is currently live across all variants of the Xperia Z5, but we are also starting to see the firmware seed for the Xperia Z5 Premium and Xperia Z5 Compact.

The new update is Android 6.0 only (no version 6.0.1 just yet), although it does include the latest February 2016 security patches from Google. The update includes native Marshmallow features such as enhanced privacy settings for app data permissions and greater battery life with Doze. The other main new addition is the home launcher.

Sony has not included STAMINA mode within this update, although it is expected to bring it back in a later firmware update. Also, Sony looks like it is following other manufacturers and has not included adoptable storage within the update. This is a shame as it means you cannot use a microSD memory card to expand the phone’s internal storage. Please let us know your initial impressions as soon as you’ve updated.