Google has reached an agreement with smartphone chipmaker Qualcomm to provide up to four years of update support for Android devices.
This will effectively solve the problem of getting only a typical two years of update support for Android devices; a big frustration for people who want to hold their phone for as long as possible.
The bottom line is that future Android phones can support up to four years of security and software updates.
“These initiatives are designed to enable faster Android OS upgrades with fewer resources and a predictable software lifecycle for Snapdragon-based devices, which together are expected to result in more consumers with Snapdragon-based devices running the latest Android OS version”, Qualcomm explains.
An actual doubling of the update support that you would normally expect from Android devices comes from “Project Treble”. This partnership between Google and Qualcomm is basically an agreement to make the software portion of Android fully backward compatible with legacy components for up to three generations of Android.
As a result, you will probably use your phone a lot more before it can no longer receive Android updates and run into compatibility issues and security risks. Hopefully, this also means you’ll receive major Android updates faster throughout the year.
Doing this can give Android phones a more level playing field with Apple’s iPhones, which typically get software support for up to five years. That’s probably why more people are more likely to use older iPhones than older Android handsets.
There are a few caveats to Project Treble. First, it only applies to phones with Qualcomm chipsets; Admittedly many Android phones use Snapdragon chips.
But that leaves people like the Exynos-powered Samsung phones out. While flagship Samsung phones such as the Galaxy S20 FE now have software support beyond two years, mid-range Galaxy handsets do not.
The second caveat is that this new update initiative will only start with phones running the Snapdragon 888 and will launch with Android 11, like the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S21 and probably the OnePlus 9. That means older phones, even the impressive ones OnePlus 8T with its Snapdragon 865, will be left aside.
The final issue is that adding the additional support is at the discretion of each manufacturer. We can assume since Google is involved that you can still use the Pixel 6 for quite some time, but we’ll have to see if other Android phone manufacturers get on board or decide they don’t want to bother.
With that in mind, 2021 might be a great time to upgrade your Android phone if you plan on having a handset that will last for a handful of years. Make sure to check out our best android phones list in the new year as we highlight the phones worth upgrading.