C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Qualcomm has revealed that the Snapdragon 8 Elite will be supported with eight years of Android OS updates.
- This should make things easier for brands that want to support their phones for as long as possible.
- However, this does not mean that all Snapdragon 8 Elite smartphones will receive eight years of Android OS updates.
Qualcomm Senior Vice President and General Manager of Devices Chris Patrick told journalists during the Snapdragon Summit (Personnel: Nicolas La Rocco and Mishaal Rahman) that the Snapdragon 8 Elite will be supported with eight years of Android OS updates. He said it would be done. Rahman added that this support also includes current versions, so you can effectively expect seven years of Android OS upgrades.
This is great news because it makes life easier for Android smartphone manufacturers who want to support their smartphones for as long as possible. However, this news does not mean that all Snapdragon 8 Elite smartphones will automatically receive seven to eight years’ worth of Android OS updates. Manufacturers still need to work to customize Qualcomm’s Android Board Support Package (BSP) with their own software skins and features. Also, since 2020, many Android manufacturers (Sony, ZTE, Motorola, etc.) have released just one OS update, even though Qualcomm chips support at least four OS versions and four years of security updates. and 3 years of security patches.
The news also comes months after Patrick first hinted at Qualcomm’s plans to make it easier for phone makers to keep updating older products. So we hope we can share more for older devices.
We have reached out to Qualcomm for more information and will update the article accordingly. Nevertheless, we are happy with this extended support policy and hope that rivals like MediaTek adopt a long-term policy as well.
