Google and Qualcomm promise four years of Android OS and security updates for Snapdragon devices

Google and Qualcomm today announced a new collaboration to support four Android OS versions and four years of security updates for all Snapdragon devices that ship with Project Treble enhancements. The new Snapdragon 888 Mobile Platform will be the first processor to support this new extended OS update support. All SoCs launching with Android 11 and later will support four Android OS versions and four years of security updates.

The improvements done by Google and Qualcomm will enable smartphone OEMs to upgrade their Snapdragon based Android devices to the latest Android OS without modifying Qualcomm Technologies’ chipset-specific software and to use a common Android software branch to upgrade devices based on a wide range of Snapdragon mobile platforms across Qualcomm Technologies’ portfolio. These changes will reduce the time and resources required for OEMs to upgrade Snapdragon based devices to the latest Android OS version.

“Google continues to work closely with our technology partners to increase the freshness of the Android ecosystem. Through this collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies, we expect that Android users will have the latest OS upgrades and greater security on their devices,” said David Burke, vice president of Android engineering, Google.

“We are excited to work with Google to extend our support for Android OS and security updates on future Snapdragon mobile platforms utilizing the Project Treble enhancements,” said Kedar Kondap, vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Through this collaboration, we expect accelerated Android OS upgrade on Snapdragon based devices while providing a superior user experience for end users.”

Source: Qualcomm, Google