Android
Google is Trying to Provide 7 Years of Updates for its Android Devices
Google announced this year that it would provide updates to its devices for seven years. However, giving any phone such a long update policy can be risky. After this, many other companies, such as Samsung, have also claimed support. On the other hand, Google will change this with its new Longevity GRF program.
Android 7 Years of Updates
GRF stands for Google Requirement Freeze, which Google introduced in 2020 to make it easier to support three years of Android OS updates for chipsets like Qualcomm and MediaTek. After this, GRF was introduced in 2017 through Project Trable, which introduced architectural changes to separate the OS framework from the lower-level vendor and Linux kernel software.
This feature made it easier to support Android OS updates with OEMs. Google committed to freeze its vendor software requirements, so they are not retroactive. OEMs can also reuse chipset software across multiple versions of Android. Chipsets like Qualcomm and MediaTek that use it can provide users with at least 3 years of new software updates.
On the other hand, engineering costs are reduced through different combinations of Android OS versions. GRF can also provide up to 10 updates to chipsets instead of 3 years of updates, which can include 4 Android OS and the rest of the security patches. This support can save the company a lot of money.
Through GRF, users are expected to get Android version updates in the software for several years. However, it tries to explain how Google will enable seven years of Android version updates and how OEMs will support devices if they want to provide 4th, 5th, 6th, or 7th Android OS version updates on devices with this chipset under GRF.
Google plans to require OEMs to support 7 years of OS updates like Samsung, leading to a new Longevity GRF program. Longevity GRF allows the chipset software to support 7 Android version updates instead of 3. This means the software launched with the chipset can reach Android 15 to Android 16 to 22.
The same can be expected with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite. On the other hand, one problem is that OEMs will have to upgrade the Linux kernel version after 3 years because Google is committed to only a four-year support lifetime for its Linux kernel fork. It starts with kernel 6.6 and also requires the launch of new chipsets built for Android 15. Thus, we can say that OEMs will also have to keep in mind 7 years of updates to Android.
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