Complaining about the length of support for Android phones is a part of life itself if you pay close attention to the world of tech. And that’s because so many Android phone makers are terrible at providing updates to their incredibly expensive phones for more than a year or two. Going forward, there’s a chance that will change, thanks to a bunch of work between Qualcomm and Google.
The two companies announced today that starting with the Snapdragon 888, they will provide 4 years of support for both Android OS version and security updates. Four years. That seems like a big deal, right?
As a part of Project Treble, where Google switched up Android’s architecture to create “a split between the OS framework and device-specific low-level software” that would allow chipset and phone makers to more easily update phones, today’s news is somewhat of an extension on that idea. Google made a tweak or extension to “the no-retroactivity principle to the SoCs as well as to devices,” which basically means it’ll be easier for companies like Qualcomm to continue supporting older chipsets with less work. Google’s full explanation of it here is worth a read if chip and OS architecture is your thing.
But really, the only thing you need to know at the moment is that going forward, phones with the Snapdragon 888 could see 4 years of software updates. Of course, the phone maker (like Samsung or LG or OnePlus) would have to commit to that. Getting Qualcomm and Google to openly acknowledge that everyone should is a big deal, though. This is the two companies, the two that provide everyone with the goods, saying that they want 4 years of software updates.
- UPDATE: We have a bit of a clarification that Ars Technica’s Ron Amadeo pulled out of Qualcomm. Qualcomm and Google are committing to supporting 4 Android versions, so that includes the launch version of Android. In other words, the Snapdragon 888 will see support for Android 11 (launch version), followed by Android 12, 13, and 14. The four years of security updates are still there. In a way, you are getting 3 years of OS updates and 4 years of security. The only new thing there for something like a Pixel phone or Samsung high-end phone is the extra year of security updates.
Official response from Qualcomm PR:
"Qualcomm will support the launch version + 3 OS upgrades, for a total of 4 major Android OS versions. Snapdragon 888 will support Android 11, 12, 13, and 14. "
So three years of major OS updates, and four years of security updates.
— Ron Amadeo (@RonAmadeo) December 16, 2020
- In a second Tweet, Amadeo noted that Qualcomm confirmed its plan to expand this support for lower-tier chipsets as well. That’s a pretty big deal, possibly bigger than the Snapdragon 888 support, since high-end chips have almost always seen pretty long support.
More fun details from Pr
"The plan is to roll this out to all Snapdragon chipsets, including lower-tier ones, but starting the new Snapdragon 888 platform."
That's a bigger deal than flagships, IMO. https://t.co/GyGAURf69A
— Ron Amadeo (@RonAmadeo) December 16, 2020
Another way to think about this is that a Snapdragon 888 phone (like the soon-to-launch Galaxy S21), will launch with Android 11 and could then see updates through Android 14 or Android 15, with security patches along the way. I’d imagine you would feel much better about paying $1,000 for a phone in 2021 if the companies involved with it told you to expect updates through 2025.
I’m guessing with many manufacturers that updates will be prioritized based on the age of the device. So even if a device gets years of updates, how long after release will those updates actually hit the device? Will we be receiving the 4th year updates at the 6 year mark after they update all the phones that have released after it?
Better question – will the phone’s warranty be 4 years to go with that?
No way and frankly it’s a silly suggestion given that after 4 years most phones are at or near their end of life, assuming they have not already been broken or lost. No OEM provides a warranty more than half that long – not even Apple; AppleCare+ only gives you a second year of warranty coverage and costs an extra $199 (also includes low deductible screen and damage repairs).
Should be a buddy for the secondary market.
That’s a great step forward, but unfortunately that means nothing for everyone right now.
A Pixel 6 variant (XL or Ultra/Pro) with Snapdragon 888 confirmed?
Nope. Google’s involvement here is software related. They very well may be planning a Snapdragon 888 device, but this isn’t confirmation of that.
Who knows for sure? The Whitechapel SOC may debut near the end of next year, but who knows what kind of performance to expect? It could very possibly be in the mid-range performance area and the SD888 could still be utilized. We have lots of time to find out.
Well f*ck. That helps no one now. And it should really be five if they want to compete with Apple.
They’ve been wanting to compete with Apple since the Nexus Line. Sadly, they don’t have what it takes.
So this doesn’t matter to Google Pixels if they continue down the mid-range path.
If no OEM manufactures commit to supporting phones for 4yrs, and Google does not have a phone with the 888 chip, does this even matter?
I thought the next flagship Qualcomm chip was going to be the Snapdragon 875. What happened to that? Does the SD 888 replace the SD 875? Will there be a SD 875 and SD 888?
And honestly, when is the last time a phone maker ended support for a phone because of end of support for the chip? It’s usually because they just don’t want to bother with the other costs for an older phone because they want you to buy a new phone.
No. Everyone assumed the next flagship SoC from Qualcomm would be called Snapdragon 875 because of past naming convention. Instead, they surprised everyone and called it the Snapdragon 888.
I’m guessing Google will follow this when they design their own chips?
This is a good start. But getting the device manufacturers to actually commit and follow through is going to be much more difficult. It requires quite a lot of resources(manpower) to accomplish.
Just LOL if you bought a Pixel 5.
Not LOL….SOL!
Looks like it was worth holding on to my Pixel 3.
Just a little bit longer, my friend, just a little bit more.
Too little, too late. Was on Android for 10 years! Just switched to iPhone 12. You had so many years to improve and you didn’t. Plus, that snapdragon 888 is still slower than the A14.
Slower at what? I have an iPhone 12 Pro Max and a OnePlus 8 Pro…they are equally as fast when it comes to nearly every day-to-day task. Stop making Android vs iPhone arguments where there isn’t any need for it.
It’s called a “benchmark” and it’s used to compare performance between chips. Were you born yesterday?
Born yesterday? No, a**hole. I wasn’t born yesterday. I know what a benchmark is and I’m smart enough to know the difference between a benchmark and real world performance. User experience is vastly more important than what any benchmark can tell you. I’ve worked for major device OEMs, such as HTC, Microsoft, and OnePlus. Who do you work for?
But, I do realize what I am dealing with here. Someone who feels so insecure that they need to justify their new purchase, by going off-topic in forums that have nothing to do with said purchase. Sad, really. If you love your new iPhone, great! I’m not here to rain on your parade. My iPhone 12 Pro Max also happens to be my favorite device. But, as I said previously, stop trying to make arguments where is no need for one.
That’s like saying dyno numbers for a car aren’t real because it wasn’t on the road. lol And I currently work as an engineer for an ultrasound company, smart a**. But what does my job have anything to do with a hobby or interest of mine? Just because you took out the trash out at HTC, doesn’t make you qualified either. “Someone who feels so insecure” – Clearly you don’t know me very well. And how am I going off topic? We’re talking about the snapdragon 888, which was just benchmarked in an S21. Comparing Qualcomm’s silicon to Apples is completely acceptable in an article like this. It’s YOU who got their panties in a bunch. All I stated was the fact that the A14 is “faster” than the 888.
Wow. You’re a real condescending d*ck. But, I’ll bite.
Let’s take your “dyno” scenario and apply it here. Let’s say you dyno a Ford Mustang at 500hp at the wheels. Then you dyno a Honda Civic, and it (miraculously) achieves the same 500hp. Who’s gonna win that race on a track? Different car + Different drivetrain + Much different weight = Very different results.
You’re trying to compare two different processors, on two very different operating systems, running on two very different devices. The numbers might be real, but no benchmark is going to be able to tell you exactly what kind of user experience you’ll have. Might give you some indication…but not as black and white as you seem to want it to be.
That’s why I used the dyno as a example. The dyno is going to show what it can put out perfectly to the wheels with zero (near zero) loss of power besides power train. Actually getting that power to the road is a totally different story. Which is why I believe a dyno result to a benchmark is pretty fair. The A14 is faster than an 888 in benchmark, but I’m sure they won’t feel that much different behind the OS. But that doesn’t negate the benchmark. It’s still a tool to xzibit the power of the SOC.
See…now your using the word “power” rather than words like “faster” or “speed”, and it makes more sense.
You used the word “faster”. I believe the words that you were looking for were “more powerful”. That would be a true statement. But, again using your dyno scenario, everyone knows that more power doesn’t always mean more speed.
My Iphone 12 Mini is BLAZING fast and smooth. So far, it has been my daily driver for a month now. But, overall, I still enjoy the Android/Pixel software experience.
I remember the hype around “Project Butter”. Like everything else, one of Google’s many promises that sounds good but likely won’t materialize in full.
Still, Samsung set the benchmark for Android updates earlier this year so I figured something like this had to happen eventually.
So Google’s own just-released Pixel 5 won’t get 4 years of updates just because it doesn’t have the 888 chipset?
Google switched to 4 years/OS versions with the Pixel 2, Samsung last year. This agreement with Qualcomm makes it easier to do so, especially for other OEMs who haven’t yet.
So this only applies to Samsung at the moment.
Good chance with oneplus, maybe sony
LG and most definitely Motorola aren’t going to be on board. Unless this applies to lower level chips, then nokia doesn’t count.
And is this confirmation of a Google phone having the 888?
Not confirmation of a Pixel with SD 888. The Google connection seems to be for the software side.
Exactly, so Google’s own phones (which now only seem to come as mid-high end phones) only come with a chip below the flagship, so they won’t get four years? wow
See, I’m mixed on this one. Sure, 4 years of updates will be nice – but it seems like the useful life of a phone is less than 4 years at this point. Maybe a little hyperbolic, but how many of us will care about still getting updates when we get 2 hours of battery life off our 40 month old phone before we need to charge it again?
I agree with your thought on this. It seems that hardware starts to degrade around the second year mark, for me at least. I usually notice battery life and screen burn around 2 years. still the thought of longer support for my phone is nice.
Can’t disagree with this sentiment more. Had this been 2013, absolutely but in this day and age, devices like the Galaxy S8+ are still getting full day battery life, not slowing down during daily usage and are more than capable of running current OS versions. They should absolutely still be receiving updates as they are more than capable. My S8+ has actually made it super difficult to upgrade from as it really checks all the boxes and anything newer has compromise written all over it.
My S10 is showing no signs of slowing down, snappy as ever, and is 2 years old. I plan on buying a S21 and giving the 10 to my daughter, but it’s probably not necessary. Newer phones are lasting longer.
I’ve used an S10. Saying “snappy as ever” isn’t really a complement.
I’ve owned a ton of phones, once I put a aftermarket screen protector, the fingerprint sensor has been way better, and this is the fastest phone I have owned, sorry your experience wasn’t good… but zero issues here.
In my experience the Samsung software is so bloated and slow it doesn’t seem to matter how good the processor is.
?? Not anymore: OneUI has been great since TouchWiz.
In my experience OneUI is better than TouchWiz but not that much better. TouchWiz was so bad it couldn’t really get much worse.
In my opinion
TouchWiz: F
OneUI: C-
Samsung Experience, what was on the Galaxy S8/S9 and Note 8/9, was the best of the bunch. OneUI wastes too much space. TouchWiz was too amateurish.
so what’s your great phone, so I know?
My Pixel 1 was going just fine when updates stopped. Yeah it wasnt full day battery but it was fine. Hell my Nexus 4 will still do 6-7 hours between charges used as a google voice wifi phone.
My Pixel 2 XL was doing great years into it. I only recently upgraded to a Pixel 5, and then only because of the trade in deal I got with Verizon. I could see phones lasting longer as time goes. Battery tech has gotten better. Charging tech has gotten better. If you can get a battery replaced for some marginal cost, that would be far less expensive than getting a new phone. 4 year life could be a realistic goal in the not so distant future.
I also recently went from a Pixel 2 XL to a Pixel 5 and the heavily degraded battery of the Pixel 2 XL after 3 years was the primary reason why I upgraded. Battery tech hasn’t really gotten better. Current battery technology is only very slightly better today than it was when I got my first smartphone in 2010. Battery capacities are certainly higher but that’s more a function of the batteries being physically bigger because the phones are bigger not because the technology is really any better. Charging tech has gotten faster but it also increase the rate of battery degradation so I wouldn’t call it better. Also, if the rumors are true about Apple getting rid of the charge port in the near future that could make things worse since wireless charging increases the rate of battery degradation even more and Android does seem to follow Apple on some things (look at the headphone jack). If the 2021 iPhone doesn’t have a charge port I expect similar from companies like Samsung, Google and LG in 2022 or 2023.
There really needs to be a break through in battery technology for phones to really last 4 years with the same battery. Especially with wireless charging. At this point I consider any break through in battery technology to be vaporware until I see an official announcement about a consumer level product.
For me, you saying it went 3 years is progress. For me, I used to be hobbling to get to the 2 year date so that I could upgrade. With the Pixel 2 XL, I went way past that. The battery for me was still good after I did the trade in. This is probably first first phone to have that happen with and it was roughly 3 years old.
Chips are getting better and really need less power now. My Pixel 5, on average use, well over a day of use. This means not having to cycle the battery lower and higher all the time which will also improve battery life. But, even so, getting a battery replacement if needed and having security updates for 4 years would be much more cost effective for people.
I did keep my Pixel 2 XL for 3 years but the battery has been pretty bad for almost a year. If the Pixel 4 XL had a bigger battery and a fingerprint sensor I would have gotten it.
The processor doesn’t really have a major impact on battery anyways so that has no influence on my choices as for as battery life. My Pixel 5 does get better battery life than my Pixel 2 XL did when it was new but honestly it’s not as good as I thought it would be with a screen that has 40% fewer pixels (the biggest impact on battery) and a 16% bigger battery I was hoping for more. With light usage staying on wifi most of the time because of being home so much due to COVID the battery life is fine. However, I don’t think it will last an entire day away from a charger out in the real world doing lots of things on mobile data, especially 5G which is a huge battery hog. I think I’ll still have to carry a battery pack and charging cable in my pocket on long heavy use days which I HATE.
And I’m still skeptical that Google would extend support to 4 years just because of this Qualcomm decision. If the rumors are true Google won’t be using Qualcomm chips next year anyways. Although I’m skeptical about that rumor so we’ll see.
I don’t think I’d ever get a battery replacement. It breaks the IP68 protection and I think most places that do battery replacements use crappy after market batteries instead of OEM ones to cut costs and maximize profits.
I have a job wear I am regularly going into the office and so does my wife, she has no wifi at her office. We both get him with 40-60% battery, depending on the daily usage. 5G on the Pixel 5 is integrating into the SOC, not an external modem like the 865 chip. That alone is a battery saver. I am getting far better battery life out of my Pixel 5 than previous phone. My wife, who had a Pixel 3 (granted a much smaller battery in that) loves the extra battery life. You are also correct that pushing fewer pixels absolutely helps with battery life, but using 7nm chips with an integrated modem for 5g also helps too.
You might be correct about battery replacements with crappy batteries at those replacement places. That would suck.
True, the 5G modem is integrated so the power usage is better than external like the SD 865 but better than the SD 865 doesn’t mean good. 5G, even from an integrated modem is still a much big power user than wifi and even a much bigger power user compared to LTE.
And I’m not saying the Pixel 5 battery life is terrible. It’s just not as good as I was expecting given the bigger battery, much lower resolution and more efficient processor. It’s not fantastic either.
When I bought my Pixel 5 I was really hoping to get a phone where I could use it for a full day away from a charger on mobile data only doing things like taking pictures and video, using GPS, listening to music and streaming video with Bluetooth headphones plus the lower battery intensive stuff like texting, email, browsing, social media, etc. That’s not what I got. It’s only marginally better than the Pixel 2 XL. That’s disappointing. Looks like carrying a battery and cable in my pocket on longer heavy use days will still be needed. That sucks.
I remember barely using a phone for a year and the battery degrading. That was in the days of removable batteries. Ever since they went to sealed performance, including longevity have improved noticably. With four versions of OS support and security. Selling a phone in two years should increase that resale amount.
That’s a good point but resale values should benefit with longer OS support. It’s up to the buyer of 2, 3 or 4 year old phones to have the battery replaced if it hasn’t already.
That’s an improvement but still not enough. They should support all of their chips for 4 years, retroactively.
I’m certainly not against that idea but just because a chip vendor supports an older chip doesn’t mean a phone manufacturer will continue to support a phone. Look at Samsung, they won’t even support a phone for as long as is currently possible.
“phones with the Snapdragon 888 COULD see 4 years of software updates”
I’d honestly be surprised if any company, even Google actually follows through on this. Plus, battery life is trash after two years anyways (and it will be even worse if Android phones follow Apple with the rumored removal of charging ports). I managed to keep my Pixel 2 XL for 3 years and the battery was awful for the last year of that.
Plus, isn’t Google supposed to be ditching Snapdragon chips for its own custom SoC in 2021 anyways?