HTC has not revealed when its flagship HTC One X device will be updated to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, but reports indicate that the update may not arrive until December. Samsung announced that it is updating its Samsung Galaxy S3 to Jelly Bean despite its slow update process, bringing flagship Android devices in line with Google's Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

MoDaCo reported that "generic" devices will get the update from October 2012 and "set for completion" before Christmas, though it is not clear what MoDaCo means by "generic" devices; reports suggested that subscription-tied devices will receive the update later.

However, carrier approvals may delay updates until the end of 2012. O2 prevented updates to Sony's Xperia devices, claiming that it tested three models, and performance ultimately stopped the update. The decision caused consumer outrage.

Getting recent versions of Android on older devices is a consistent problem for Google; Android 4.1 Jelly Bean currently takes over one percent of device share. Gingerbread, released 2010, takes over 50 percent. That contrasts Apple making iOS 6 available to download a week after iPhone 5's announcement, and two months after the OS' debut. Android 4.1 Jelly Bean released May 29 during Google's I/O. 

The problem may be that Google, unlike Microsoft, does not set hardware requirements for manufacturers, making it harder to maintain consistency across the platform. Apple is, of course, the opposite, with its closed ecosystem and itself as the only developer to build iOS devices.

No news is available on HTC's One S, the mid-range device in the "One" trio, or the low-end HTC One V. Even though HTC's One X is being updated, weaker hardware may prevent Jelly Bean from arriving on the other two "One" devices.