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Google has reached an agreement with smartphone chipmaker Qualcomm to provide up to four years of update support for Android devices.
This will effectively eliminate the problem of only receiving two years of update support for Android devices; a great frustration for people who like to keep their phone as long as possible.
The bottom line is that future Android phones will be able to support up to four years of security and software updates.
“These initiatives are designed to enable faster Android operating system upgrades with less resources and a predictable software lifecycle for Snapdragon-based devices, which together are expected to result in more consumers with Snapdragon-based devices. on Snapdragon running the latest version of the Android operating system, ”Qualcomm explained.
The effective doubling of update support that you would typically expect from Android devices is courtesy of “Project Treble”. This collaboration between Google and Qualcomm is essentially an agreement to make the software part of Android fully backward compatible with older components for up to three generations of Android.
As a result, you’ll likely be using your phone a lot more before it can no longer receive Android updates and start experiencing compatibility issues and security risks. Hopefully, this also means you’ll get big Android updates faster throughout the year.
That could put Android phones on a more level playing field with Apple’s iPhones, which typically get software support for five years. This is probably the reason why you are more likely to see more people using older iPhones than older Android phones.
There are a few caveats to Project Treble. First of all, this will only apply to phones with Qualcomm chipsets; a lot of Android phones use Snapdragon chips.
But that leaves the Exynos-powered Samsung phones out. While flagship Samsung phones like the Galaxy S20 FE now have software support that extends beyond two years, unlike mid-range Galaxy phones.
The second caveat is that this new update initiative will only start with phones equipped with the Snapdragon 888 and launched with Android 11, like the upcoming one. Samsung galaxy s21 and probably the OnePlus 9. This means older phones, even the awesome ones OnePlus 8T with his Snapdragon 865, will be left on the side of the road.
The final issue is that adding the additional support is at the discretion of each manufacturer. We can assume that since Google is involved, you’ll be able to use the Pixel 6 for quite a while, but we’ll have to see if other Android phone makers team up or decide they don’t want to bother.
With that in mind, 2021 might be a good time to upgrade your Android phone if you are planning to have a handset that will last a few years. Be sure to check out our best android phones list in the new year, as we will be flagging phones that are worth upgrading.
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