Today we are seeing how different manufacturers, such as Samsung, are betting on offering more years of updates to their smartphones. Now the maximum is set at 3 years, but in the near future Android phones could commit to four years of software updates , if Qualcomm and Google have their way.
Aiming to take on Apple , whose phones can be insured for up to 5 years of updates, the two companies plan to “upgrade and extend” Project Treble to make it easier for phone makers to release new phone operating system updates. older. At the same time that Apple has proven adept at updating older iPhone models with the latest version of iOS, Android phones often get a couple of years of updates at best before manufacturers ditch them and just release security patches.
The problem, as Google emphasizes, is that while Apple makes its own software and chipsets, Android phones run on processors from several different manufacturers that have their own custom software. This wide variety of combinations means that multiple versions of the same software update are required, just to be compatible with each of the devices.
Project Treble to the rescue
Google wants this to be a thing of the past sooner rather than later and therefore promises that “all the new Qualcomm mobile platforms that take advantage of the principle of non-retroactivity for their processors, will support 4 versions of the Android operating system and 4 years of security updates. . This way, all Qualcomm customers can take advantage of this stability to further reduce the costs of updates and releases and extend the life of their devices for longer periods of time. “
Qualcomm states that “these initiatives are designed to enable faster updates to Google’s operating system with fewer resources and provide a predictable software lifecycle for Snapdragon-based devices, which together are expected to result in more consumers than make use of mobiles with these chips. “
The bad part of the matter is that your current mobile is not going to benefit from this agreement since this change is expected to start with smartphones that run on Android 11 and the new Snapdragon 888 . From now on the strategy will be carried over to more mobiles that are launched in the future.
Source>Android Central