In a new collaboration with Qualcomm and Google, companies have announced one support for Android security updates a total of four years. This change comes with the new Snapdragon 888 chip and will roll out in futures as well, offering security and operating system updates for up to four years. Of course, as long as the manufacturer also does his part.
The upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 and all other Project Treble-compatible Snapdragon chips will allow Android to be updated for four years on smartphones that have the chip. Currently most high-end and some manufacturers in particular allow updates for three years, essentially this is extended for another year.
Project Treble in action for Android security updates
For these four years of updates to be possible Qualcomm takes advantage of an interesting change that Google implemented some time ago in Android: Project Treble. In short, Project Treble modifies the Android code layout so that essential upgrade parts are not mixed with vendor code. This independence allows for easier and faster updates for Android.
Implementing Project Treble partly takes work away from smartphone makers , but passes that work off to chipmakers. Qualcomm, MediaTek and others have had to fix and fix the chip to support longer operating system updates.
Today’s announcement reveals the collaboration between Google and Qualcomm to make these updates more effective. Both of them commit to four years of updates. Now, they do not have the final word, which remains with the smartphone manufacturer. Brands such as Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, Nokia or Sony are the ones that must also commit to allowing these updates for four years on their phones.
In other words, Qualcomm and Google now guarantee phone makers that it is possible to have up to four years of updates with the new chips. However, each manufacturer separately has to guarantee users now whether there are one, two, three, or four years of security or operating system updates .
Typically around a year or two of operating system updates with new features and an extra year or two of security updates are offered . In contrast, Apple with its iPhone, being the exclusive developer of both hardware and software, gets five or six years of updating to the latest version of the operating system.
More information | Qualcomm