Since it hit the U.S. shelves in July, the ZTE Axon 7 has been garnering quite a few laurels not only for its durability, but also its affordable pricing. Now, ZTE is set to partner with Cyanogen to bring official CyanogenMod support for the Axon 7.

The news comes courtesy of a ZTE executive who spilled the beans on the company's official Z-Community forum in the U.S. on Sept. 16.

The executive disclosed that ZTE is working in tandem with the Cyanogen team to bring official ROM support for the Axon 7.

"We have been working with Steve Kondik and the Cyanogen team to prepare support for an official version of CyanogenMOD on Axon 7. To be clear, this is only for the unlocked bootloader version of Axon 7, but this is what I believe this community is requesting. We do not have plans to ship CyanogenMOD directly with Axon 7 (out of the box)," confirmed the ZTE executive.

When quizzed on when the completely functional CyanogenMod will be released, ZTE clarified that it is only offering hardware and will give direct support to the Cyanogen team. The development and date of release would hinge on the community.

So while ZTE confirms that it will be offering support and hardware to Cyanogen, it has asserted that the Axon 7 will not ship pre-loaded with CyanogenMod. This means that users will still be required to unlock the device's bootloader and flash the ROM manually.

Interestingly, the ZTE Axon 7 recently benefited from the CyanogenMod 13 ROM, albeit an unofficial build. It seems that the unofficial ROM paved the path for ZTE and the folks at Cyanogen to come up with an official version.

The fact that ZTE does not have any issue with the bootloader on its flagship Axon 7 being unlocked — and it even aids one in doing so — makes the flashing of ROMs even more seamless.

However, the current announcement pertaining to the arrival of the CyanogenMod for the ZTE Axon 7 is not exactly an official one as the ZTE executive cautions.

"ZTE does not intend to control what is official and what is not. This is why we leave it to community members to define, and in this case, it is managed by Cyanogen. When the Cyanogen team believes that the product is ready for Axon 7, they will give it this designation, not ZTE," notes the executive.

With no endorsed date of release for the CyanogenMod for the ZTE Axon 7 being hinted at, it appears we need to wait patiently and hope that more information is made available soon.

Photo: Johan Larsson | Flickr