If you’ve ever used an Android phone, you likely know that getting updates is annoying. Over the last few years, things have gotten slightly better from some manufacturers, but it’s still nowhere near as seamless as it is on iOS.
A new update to Project Treble, Google’s initiative to speed up Android updates, brings chip manufacturer Qualcomm into the fold. Theoretically, this should help people get more updates, but in reality, it appears this only really enables lower-end phones to get more updates.
Google’s wording is a little unclear, but most publications now seem to agree that this announcement promises three major Android updates to phones with new Snapdragon chipsets in them. That means if you buy a phone with a Snapdragon 888 and Android 11, it should stop receiving updates once it hits Android 14. Some phones may also get an extra year of security patches.
To sum this update up, it means that now Qualcomm will support all of its new chips so they can get three years of major Android updates and four years of security updates. Many phones already did this, but they could only do it if Qualcomm was still supporting the chip in their phone. This was less of a problem for popular flagship-class chips than it was for lower-end chipsets.
With the new update, all Qualcomm chips from the 88 onwards will support updates for at least four years. This means that if a phone manufacturer is only offering two years of updates, it’s their fault, and they can’t blame it on Google or Qualcomm, basically.
This doesn’t really change your life for the consumer and likely won’t result in you getting updates any faster on your Samsung phone. It just means that it should be easier for Samsung to offer updates on its lower-end phones running less flashy Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets.
Source: Android Police
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