Back in August, we reported that the Pixel 8 will get significantly more Android OS updates, and a new leak today pegs that number at seven years.
The Pixel 8 and 8 Pro will get “Seven years of OS, security and Feature Drop updates.” This is according to a specs sheet shared by 91Mobiles and Kamila Wojciechowska today.
Google today advertises “5 years of Pixel updates,” which translates to three years of Android updates followed by 24 months of security patches currently.
A literal reading of the leaked Pixel 8 specs would suggest you got all three types of updates for seven years. The other possibility is some sort of combination like you have today.
It would surpass Samsung’s promise of four, which started with the Galaxy S21 and Z Flip/Fold 3. Other Android OEMs will undoubtedly make similar moves.
Save for the original, Pixel phones powered by Qualcomm SoCs got three years of updates. With the Pixel 6 and Tensor, Google added two years of security patches. Arguably, this is a reasonable policy given the audience of who keep their device for five years before upgrading. However, it was embarrassing that the Pixel did not have the best update policy among Android OEMs.
That’s certainly changing if this 8 and 8 Pro leak pans out, with Google’s upgrade promise putting the Pixel in contention with the iPhone.
Of course, the big question is how Android will perform several years down the road. We have an idea of how Android performs on the Pixel after three years, though we’ve yet to hit that with Tensor-powered phones. The real test will be what performance is like after five, and whether anybody would actually want to use a device that long, assuming all other components continue working, which is more likely than ever thanks to the iFixit repair parts partnership.
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