One week after Google officially released Android 7.0 Nougat, ASUS has finally upgraded the ZE551ML model of the ZenFone 2 to 6.0 Marshmallow. ASUS had originally promised that the ZenFone 2 would receive Marshmallow before the end of Q2 2016, but that deadline was clearly ignored.

Oddly, ASUS chose to update the ZenFone Zoom and ZenFone Selfie, two handsets based off the ZenFone 2, to Marshmallow nearly two months before the base phone received the same update. The Zoom and Selfie also missed the Taiwanese company's self-imposed deadline, but not nearly as severely.

As far as we know, only the ZenFone 2 (ZE551ML) is being upgraded right now. The ZE551ML name includes ZenFone 2 models with 1080p screens in both the Intel Z3560/2GB of RAM and Intel Z3580/4GB of RAM configurations. The firmware version is 4.21.40.134. The update includes the removal of over 20 apps but also the addition of five more from Google and Facebook.

UPDATE: 2016/08/31 11:50am PDT BY

ZenFone 2 4.21.40.134

The apps listed below will no longer be pre-loaded once your device has been upgraded to Android 6.0 (Marshmallow).

Thanks for your support.

1. ASUS Backup

2. Data Transfer

3. Dr. Eye (TW SKU)

4. Jawbone UP

5. EZTABLE (TW SKU)

6. Google Play Books

7. Google Play Games

8. Google Play Newsstand

9. Google+

10. Mirror

11. Omlet

12. Party Link

13. PC Link

14. Photo Frame

15. Remote Link

16. TripAdvisor

17. What's Next

18. Yahoo Shopping (TW SKU)

19. ZenFlash (Can be downloaded from Google play)

20. Zinio

21. Asus Game center

Multi-user and SnapView will not be supported. If you wish to continue to use multi-user, please keep using current account

Remove Asus Email, Asus Calendar, Asus Messaging, Asus Browser and Asus Music after Factory Reset. You could use Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Messenger, Chrome and Google Play Music for relevant services

Add new features and new apps:

- Google Calendar

- Google Messenger

- Facebook

- Facebook messenger

- Instagram

If you don't get the update notification on your phone and you don't want to wait for it to show up, you can download the file manually and install it from ASUS's support website here.

Source: ASUS ZenTalk