Google, Qualcomm Will Support 8 Years of Android Updates

An anonymous reader quotes a report from 9to5Google: Starting with the Snapdragon 8 Elite, Qualcomm will offer device manufacturers (OEMs) the "ability to provide support for up to eight consecutive years of Android software and security updates." Qualcomm today announced a "program" in partnership with Google: "What this means is that support for platform software included in this program will be made available to OEMs for eight consecutive years, including both Android OS and kernel upgrades, without requiring significant changes or upgrades to the platform and OEM code on the device (a separation commonly referred as 'Project Treble' or the 'vendor implementation'). While kernel changes will require updating kernel mode drivers, the vendor code can remain unchanged while the software support is being provided."

This program specifically includes "two upgrades to the mobile platform's Android Common Kernel (ACK) to support the eight-year window." It's ultimately up to manufacturers to update their devices, but the bottleneck going forward won't be the chip. Qualcomm today notes how the extended software support it's providing can "lower costs for OEMs interested in supporting their devices longer." The first devices to benefit are Snapdragon 8 Elite-powered smartphones launching with Android 15. Notably, the program runs for the "next five generations" of SoCs, including Snapdragon 8 and 7-series chips launching "later this year." Older chipsets will not benefit from this program.

8 consecutive years on which calendar?

[rossdee]

is this 8 years on the Gregorian calendar, the Islamic calendar or some other calendar?

Re:

[bill_mcgonigle]

It depends which star you're currently orbiting and what your orbital period is.

Up To...

[Fly Swatter]

up to eight years, clearly you have never shopped at a furniture store sale.

Most manufacturers will still just do what they do now.

- You bought it, now it's your problem.

What's the penalty?

[khchung]

So what's the penalty if, 5 years later, they announced they are going to drop support of some models well short of 8 years? No penalty except bad PR? Then this is just worthless hot air, same as the Do (Know) Evil pledge that tricked so many.

For-profit companies drop and forget pledges like they switch CEOs, it won't happen until it did.

Re:

[viperidaenz]

Google averages about 8 years per CEO
Qualcomm is longer, with 4 CEO's in 35 years

Re:

[AleRunner]

For-profit companies drop and forget pledges like they switch CEOs, it won't happen until it did.

This kind of change right now is much more about the fact that there's no right-to-repair legislation in all the US states. Firstly, they don't want to fall foul of those laws. Secondly, now that legislators have realized that this is something people actually care and vote about, the last thing the tech companies want to do is trigger further consumer supporting laws. As long as there's attention and political pressure around this issue there's not likely to be a terrible retrenchment.

What you really reall

One-up iOS

[Samare]

The latest iPhones to become unsupported (the iPhones 8 and X) have received 7 years of updates (among which 6 of major updates). That being said, less fragmentation in Android versions means that a smartphone will become useless much faster once it stops getting updates. What will that mean for cheap unsupported Chinese phones?

Google Modem

[bill_mcgonigle]

One supposes Google agreed to not develop its own modem like Apple?

If Qualcomm gets a percentage of device cost, as widely rumored, they had a financial incentive to make phones go obsolete.

I thought this was all cleared up in the Android HAL a few years ago, though. What was it, Android 9?

We're going on 16 now. I like my Pine64 with an outboard modem and kill switch. Stinks that Pixels still (will) have an integrated SoC with tight coupling.

Re:

[ChunderDownunder]

Google SoC is a derivative of Exynos from Samsung, IIRC.

Anyhow, Qualcomm are promising 8 years? surely if you submit the code to Linus at kernel.org then anyone can build their own from scratch _for life_. But just how many Android-isms are lurking...

(FWIW doesn't Quectel modem on the Pinephone contain a Qualcomm embedded chip running some version of Android... )

Re:

[tlhIngan]

Anyhow, Qualcomm are promising 8 years? surely if you submit the code to Linus at kernel.org then anyone can build their own from scratch _for life_. But just how many Android-isms are lurking...

Thejre's a lot of code not in the kernel - and which should stay out of the kernel because it doesn't belong there.

Things like display drivers - the vast majority of GPU code runs in userspace (display APIs, hardware scheduler, compiler, etc). The only bit of kernel code is the bit that talks to the hardware - the c

How does this affect future non-phones?

[schwit1]

I have a Sony TV running Android. Can Google mandate to Sony that if we are providing OS updates you must pass those updates along to your device?

Will this incentivize IOT makers to use Android?

Re:

[ChunderDownunder]

"smart tv" been there, done that.

You're better off getting a dumb tv and a $50 TV stick.

Sure

[jrnvk]

Sure, sure, sure. But in all seriousness, does anyone here think Google is capable of doing anything for 8 years straight without abandoning it?

Re:

[swillden]

Sure, sure, sure. But in all seriousness, does anyone here think Google is capable of doing anything for 8 years straight without abandoning it?

How about Android?

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

Android, Chrome, search, Gmail, Chromebooks, YouTube...

Google is generally good about compensating people when they abandon stuff or screw up though. They gave people who bought Stadia kit a full refund, for example. Recent issues with an update to the Pixel 4 to address a potential battery failure problem have resulted in some of them having poor performance, which Google is refunding or replacing/upgrading.

So I'm fairly confident that my Pixel 8 Pro will get 8 years of updates, or I'll get some decent com

Shame pixel batteries don't last that long

[nothinginparticular]

My Pixel is 2 or 3 years old, with moderate usage and the battery is starting to get lame already. Whilst the older pixels weren't too difficult to get inside for battery replacement, I found the more recent ones impenetrable. So, ironically, if you want your android phone to last 8 years, don't pick a google device.

"Up to eight"

[slipped_bit]

"Up to eight."

So, between zero and eight.

Re:

[groobly]

"up to" includes zero.