Qualcomm
Back in 2017, Google announced Project Treble, a modular redesign of Android’s low-level system architecture that was supposed to reduce the time it took for phone manufacturers to update their devices with the latest version of its mobile operating system. A new partnership between Google and Qualcomm, the company that makes the Snapdragon processors you find in most Android phones, will see the two companies work together to improve Project Treble and further simplify the update process for devices that feature a Qualcomm chipset.
They say their partnership will help reduce the time and resources manufacturers need to invest to update their phones with Google’s latest software, thereby extending the life of their products. Moving forward, any Snapdragon-equipped device that supports Project Treble will allow for up to four major Android platform upgrades and four years of security patches. The version of Android a phone launches with is included in the first part of
Google, Qualcomm partner to offer up to 4 years of Android updates
Google launched Project Treble with the aim of reducing the fragmentation of the Android ecosystem across various smartphone manufacturers and devices. Initially the project focused on helping smartphone manufacturers quickly push out updates, and now, Google has announced a new collaboration with Qualcomm to enhance and extend Project Treble right down to the SoC level.
Before Project Treble, Android was well known to be heavily fragmented; OS upgrades for smartphones would sometimes take years or never happen. Part of the reason was the development cost and time required for OEMs to modify a new Android version with their own customizations. This was largely solved by Project Treble and the benefits are clearly visible with the adoption rate of Android 10.
The work will lead to lower upgrade costs and support for devices for longer periods of time, Google claims
Android phones in the future will support up to four new OS versions thanks to a collaboration between Google and Qualcomm.
All new mobile platforms with Qualcomm silicon will get four OS version updates and four years of security updates, according to a blog post by Google engineers.
In 2017, Google changed Android to be more modular and enabling easier updates. This move, known as Project Treble, split the OS framework and device-specific low-level software (called the vendor implementation).
While this was good for device manufacturers, it introduced “additional complexity” for chipmakers.
Android 11 has rolled out to devices faster than Android 10
Despite the faster roll-out, Android 11 has arrived for users only slightly faster than Android 10 did
It looks like Android 11 has the fastest adoption rate yet for a major new software release, albeit barely.
The news comes as part of Google and Qualcomm announcing a longer update window for the latter company’s chipsets. In short, new Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets will allow for up to three major Android updates you can learn more about that announcement here.
As part of that announcement, Google also shared that Android 11 took the title of fastest-deployed Android update from last year’s Android 10 release. However, the graph Google shared showing the adoption also makes it clear that Android 11’s adoption is barely more than Android 10’s.
Google and Qualcomm are working together for faster Android updates
Share this story
Illustration by William Joel / The Verge
Qualcomm and Google have announced they’ll be working to expand Project Treble, Google’s ambitious multiyear project that aims to simplify OS updates so it’s easier for device manufacturers to upgrade phones and tablets to new Android versions without worrying about Qualcomm’s chipset-specific software.
The goal is to make it even easier for users to get the latest version of Android on their phones (something that isn’t always guaranteed) and to ensure that new Qualcomm chips will support four Android OS updates and four years of security updates a huge leap forward from what most Android phones usually offer. Such a feat, if actually accomplished, would put Android smartphones closer to Apple’s iPhones in terms of long-term software support.