7 years of Android updates may turn into the brand new norm due to Google’s Longevity Necessities Freeze

Most units at this time turn into out of date not due to put on and tear or injury, however from a lack of software program help. The norm up till a number of years in the past was for 2 to 3 years of OS updates, however Google and Samsung are altering that.

Mountain View-based Google was first to formally prolong help for its flagships in 2023, asserting that the Pixel 8 collection can have seven years of assured Android OS and safety updates till October 2030. What was stunning was that Google prolonged the identical help to its mid-range Pixel 8a as properly, marking a significant change in our expectations of the tech large.

Samsung adopted go well with by asserting seven years of OS and safety updates for the S24, S24+ and S24 Extremely, with the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Fold 6 gaining the identical help.

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Google’s newest Pixel 9 collection, as anticipated, additionally provides prolonged OS and safety updates, properly into 2031, however that is not the tech large’s finish purpose. It desires extra smartphones and their consumers to learn with seven years of updates.

As highlighted by Mishaal Rahman in a report for Android Authority, the tech large desires to make it simpler for different OEMs to supply seven years of updates for his or her units, and it’s doing so with the Longevity Google Necessities Freeze (LGRF).

For reference, again in 2020, Google launched GRF, which primarily laid down the groundwork for longer help that we’re having fun with at this time. The requirement freeze made it simpler for chip producers like Qualcomm and MediaTek to help a number of OS iterations with a single chipset. This ensured that chip distributors did not have to replace vendor-side software program for a minimum of three iterations of Android.

Cue Longevity Google Necessities Freeze

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LGRF primarily permits the identical chipset vendor-side software program to be repurposed for seven Android model updates, up from three. Which means a tool that launches with Android 15 can probably obtain updates as much as Android 22 (if the naming scheme stays constant) with out requiring important software program commitments from the chip vendor’s facet.

Beneath this system, for the primary three years, the seller’s software program will stay frozen, although OEMs might want to replace the Linux kernel after three years with the intention to obtain Google’s certification, guaranteeing well timed safety patches. Qualcomm’s recently-announced Snapdragon 8 Elite is the primary chipset beneath LRGF.

Whereas this system does have apparent advantages, like longer lifespans for a bigger subset of units, it has drawbacks and limitations too. For instance, one limitation in place is that OEMs cannot ship a tool with an Android model that’s 4 updates forward of its chip’s authentic vendor software program. For instance, Snapdragon 8 Elite’s vendor software program, designed for Android 15, cannot be straight used on a tool that’s launching with Android 19. That is to forestall producers from delivery units that may solely profit from three OS updates.

Additional, some options down the road may require updates to the seller software program regardless, which might make vendor software program frozen at a selected construct incapable of supporting stated new options.

Google hasn’t publicly shared particulars about LGRF. Rahman means that the tech large held an occasion for OEMs earlier within the yr, and that is how we find out about Google’s Longevity Necessities Freeze plans.