Good news, HTC One M8 owners (maybe)! Android 5.0 Lollipop, aka Android L, could be coming to your phone ahead of schedule -- early enough to qualify as a free New Year's gift -- if a new rumor is to believed, that is.

HTC has been one of the most candid Android OEMs when it comes to the process and promise of a swift Android 5.0 Lollipop roll out to its devices. Now, if a new anonymously sourced report is to be believed, it looks like Android 5.0 Lollipop's release date for the HTC One M8 is coming much sooner than expected -- about a month sooner than HTC originally stated, actually.

That's according to a report from Dutch tech blog TechTastic, as unearthed and translated by GottaBeMobile, which says normal HTC One M8 devices -- yes, with Lollipop-tailored Sense on regular wireless carriers -- could begin receiving Android 5.0 Lollipop OTA update notifications by a Jan. 3, 2015, release date.

That would be a full month earlier than the previously released update window --which had an Android L release date for regular HTC devices on Feb. 3, 2015, at the earliest -- a date which was publicized in full candor by HTC soon after Google released Lollipop's source code.

Could This Be Real?

The rumor's source claimed multiple anonymous sources confirmed the as-soon-as Jan. 3 Android L release date at a private event in London over the past weekend.

The sources purportedly agreed on the January date, as well as the fact that the new Sense UI layer would be ready and included by then. TechTastic's reputation was vouched for by GottaBeMobile, which mentioned it has leaked accurate HTC information several times in the past.

But there's more than one reason for doubting this.

It Might Just Be For International Devices

First off, there's the source's decidedly international location and the rumor's vagueness about wireless carriers.

As we've mentioned before, releasing a major system update isn't just about tailoring the OEM UI layer to match, or even making sure the update works on a specific device.

That's because, before you get an OTA notification that an Android update is ready for your smartphone, each U.S. carrier needs several weeks for an exhaustive approval process to tweak and test various core features -- like, for example, the ability to make a phone call -- to make sure the update won't be a disaster. That's after OEMs like HTC have spent their 90-day (for HTC, now 60-day?) window to update their custom UI.

That's one of the reasons why you'll see leaked screenshots of Android 5.0 on your device long before it's actually on your device. It's also why U.S. carriers generally release Android system software updates at least a month after some international versions of the device are already good to go.

The Other, Stronger Reason for Doubt

But there's another, quite logical and specific-to-Lollipop reason not to hope too much that your HTC One M8 will be running Lollipop so much radically earlier than rivals like Samsung, LG, and other: As previously mentioned, it's HTC's remarkable transparency throughout the whole update process this year.

Unlike OEMs like Samsung, HTC immediately announced exactly how long it would take them to get the Android Lollipop update out to its flagship devices as soon as the company knew and explained exactly why -- HTC even has an entire interactive webpage dedicated to explaining the process.

And this year especially, its U.S. spokesperson Mo Versi has been so ready and willing to release information on Android releases that his Twitter account is closely watched by droves of technology journalists.

Now, Imagine you're HTC in this situation:

You know Android 5.0 is ready for a U.S. release date -- for this year's flagship phone -- a full month before any other rival considers an update release possible. Wouldn't you tell everyone?

Don't you think HTC -- which has been struggling for market share as an Android device manufacturer behind the likes of Samsung, LG, and even Amazon -- would want to publicize its first place finish in the great "Android L OEM update race" to the world? Or at least tweet some cryptic buzz-generating message?

If I were HTC or Mo Versi, I would, especially because the Android Lollipop rollout for the Google Play Edition of the HTC One wasn't exactly smooth -- or on time.

Just saying: Don't hold your breath this coming New Year's weekend, HTC One owners. But don't despair, HTC's official update window is still pretty early, compared to the vast majority of Android land.

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