Today Pixel phones and the best Samsung devices are guaranteed three years of major software upgrades. In partnership with Qualcomm, Google is now making it possible for Android devices to get 4 OS versions and years of security updates.
In 2017, Google redesigned Android to become modular, making updates easier and faster to implement. Project Treble allows OEMs to update the OS framework without changing the vendor implementation (low-level device-specific software).
While beneficial for device manufacturers, this approach introduces “additional complexity” for chip makers:
For each SoC model, the SoC manufacturers now had to create multiple combinations of vendor implementations to support OEMs who would use that chipset to launch new devices and implement OS upgrades on previously launched devices.
As a result, three years after the launch of a chipset, the SoC vendor should support up to six combinations of OS framework software and vendor implementations.
Google’s new solution enables chipmakers to “support Android with same vendor implementations on their SoCs for both device launches and upgrades.” This reduces the effort required to bring the latest Android release to older chips.
Over the past year, Google – citing “ deep collaboration ” – partnered with the best Android chipmaker to ensure that “ all new Qualcomm mobile platforms benefiting from the no-retroactivity principle for SoCs, four Android OS versions and four years of security updates will support. . This expanded support starts with the Snapdragon 888, which will power next year’s flagships, announced earlier in December.
OEMs can therefore upgrade devices to the latest operating system without modifying Qualcomm’s “chipset-specific software”.
All Qualcomm customers will be able to take advantage of this stability to further reduce both the cost of upgrades and launches, and can now support their devices for longer.
Google also reuses the same OS framework for multiple Qualcomm chipsets:
This drastically reduces the number of combinations of OS frameworks and vendor implementations that Qualcomm must support on their mobile platforms and results in lower engineering, development and implementation costs.
This change applies to all SoCs launched with Android 11 and above. At this time, no device manufacturer has committed to this comprehensive support. In addition to moving the high-end (Google, Samsung and even Microsoft) to four years, hopefully all other OEMs will do better than two years.
Speaking of Treble, Google shared today that there were 667 million active users on Android 10, with 82% (i.e. on existing devices) getting the 2019 release via an OTA update when Android 11 launched in September. Looking ahead, Google commends “continued momentum among our partners to launch their devices on Android 11 or earlier offer Android 11 OTAs on their devices.”
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