Some Nexus 9 users reporting that recent 5.0.2 update bricked their devices

Following our report last month that the Android Lollipop 5.0.2 update was causing Nexus 7 and Nexus 5 devices to become bricked, it now appears as if the Nexus 9—which just received the update earlier this week—is suffering the same problem. While not all Nexus 9 devices that go through with the 5.0.2 update are being killed, threads on Google’s Product Forum suggest that this is definitely not an uncommon issue by any means…

After waiting months for any update beyond version 5.0.1 (while other Nexus devices were receiving 5.1.0 and 5.1.1), the Nexus 9 just Tuesday received a 23 MB update that many assumed was in preparation for the release of 5.1.1. While this is likely the case, it appears as if the 5.0.2 update—which no one really wanted in the first place—is causing more problems than it solves (as noticed first by Android Police).

A quick factory reset is the common suggestion for those suffering “bricked” devices, but it doesn’t look like that’s helping many people:

Well same results.  The factory reset didn’t help anything.  Still stuck with the green figure with error underneath it..    I can reboot back to where it was before, but of course cant go forward.  Not really sure what to do now, and Im not sure if you can bypass 5.02 and go to 5.1.1.  Anyways looking for suggestions.

It’s not exactly clear at this moment whether or not this is the same exact issue as the one that seemingly affected several Nexus 7 & 5 devices (and gave birth to the now oft-used #Nexus7Bricked hashtag), but it’s oddly curious that it’s the same version of Android that seems to be causing the problem. Google was reportedly working on squashing some “last minute bugs” before pushing the Android 5.1.1 update to the Nexus 9—so maybe this is them.

#Nexus9Bricked anyone? Let us know in the comments.