Qualcomm and Google partners to provide up to four Android OS support and security updates
High-end Android smartphones often have about 2 major OS upgrades and 3 years of software support. Big updates on entry-level and mid-range smartphones are even rarer. That's far from what Apple iPhones can do with usually around 5 years of support. But, that might change soon.
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Four Android OS Versions and Four Years of Security Support
Chipmaker Qualcomm and search-giant Google announced a collaboration to extend Android OS support and simplify upgrades. The companies noted that it aims to provide a wide range of Snapdragon-powered devices with Four Android OS Versions and Four Years of Security Support.
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Basically, Snapdragon platforms using Project Treble enhancements starting with the new Snapdragon 888 Mobile Platform will be able to enjoy this initiative.
Qualcomm clarified that it will support the launch version + 3 OS upgrades. Snapdragon 888 will support Android 11, 12, 13, and 14.
Qualcomm said that this extension and enhancement of the Project Treble are intended to enable Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to upgrade their Snapdragon-based devices to the latest OS without modifying the Qualcomm chipset-specific software and use a common Android software branch to upgrade devices based on a wide range of Snapdragon mobile platforms. The enhancements are designed to reduce the time and resources required to upgrade a Snapdragon-based device to the latest Android OS version.
Google continues to work closely with our technology partners to increase the freshness of the Android ecosystem. Through this collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies, we expect that Android users will have the latest OS upgrades and greater security on their devices, said David Burke, vice president of Android engineering, Google.
We are excited to work with Google to extend our support for Android OS and security updates on future Snapdragon mobile platforms utilizing the Project Treble enhancements, said Kedar Kondap, vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Through this collaboration, we expect accelerated Android OS upgrade on Snapdragon-based devices while providing a superior user experience for end-users.
Google also noted that it has been focused on making OS updates easier and faster to deploy.
To recap, Project Treble is Google's re-architecture of Android that created a split between the OS framework and device-specific low-level software (called the vendor implementation) through a well-defined, stable vendor interface.
As a part of this split, the Android OS framework guarantees backward compatibility with the vendor implementation, which is checked through a standardized compliance test suite - VTS.
There's no info if Google is planning to collaborate with other chip vendors yet.
For a more technical explanation of this development, check our sources below.
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