Qualcomm recently announced that phones using mobile platforms in the Snapdragon 8 and 7 series will be eligible for eight years of update support if they run Android. Google is on board and will also work to happen. But what exactly does that mean?
This can be confusing because the word up to date means a lot of different things for us. An update is simply something you install that exchange software bits or adds new software to what already exists.
You get updates for applications, updates for your keyboard and all other software on your phone, including the Android operating system. This is where it comes into play.
Android on your phone – this is also worth for tablets – is updated three different ways. This affects at least two of the three and should also apply to the other over time.
You have platform version updates, and these are those that care about everyone, as when Android 16 arrives to replace Android 15. This commitment covers these types of updates, according to Google. So, if you buy a new phone like the OnePlus 13 today that runs Android 15 and uses a Elite Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 chip, you could Get Android 23 in eight years. It will be an watered down version of Android 23, but the platform and the API version will be the same, so you can run all the same applications as phones in 2033.
Of course, the battery on your phone will have bitten the dust long before, so it’s a bit of a hollow promise.
THE Linux core (Android is only another Linux flavor, mainly) is also included here because it may be necessary to be updated and corrected to support more recent versions. Qualcomm says he is committed to providing everything necessary for two versions of the Android common core to respond to this eight -year window.
Then you have google Android safety monthly updates. These are Really The most important types of updates, but it is difficult to get excited about them. Qualcomm also undertook to provide the code to offer them for eight years. This means that whatever the version of Android you are running, it will be as secure as Google can do it. If you replace the battery in your OnePlus 13 several times, and it lasts until 2033, Android 23 will obtain the fixes he needs to stay safe.
The last type of update is a little weird, and most of the time, nobody talks about it because consumers never see it. Google supports the Android versions that not New with fixed corrections and updates. This means that if a company manufactures a product that works better on a specific version of Android, it is always corrected with the latest updates that apply it.
Qualcomm puts these available changes so that Google can use them to maintain the old versions, provided that the device itself uses a Snapdragon 8 chip or a 7-year chip launched later this year. I’m sure Google will do it, but we will not know as long as these versions inherited from Android require a Qualcomm update to work.
Now to not so good news
This commitment is nothing other than good news, and it’s nice to see Qualcomm getting started with the idea that we should be able to use our expensive phones longer. I love it, and I bet most of us do it. This does not mean that it will happen, however.
It will not be free. Nowhere in Qualcomm announcement Does this claim that these changes will be free, so no one should have assumed that they would. The current support window is not free, and it is generally part of the purchase agreement when the chips are ordered; Samsung (for example) negotiates a price to buy 100 million Snapdragon chips and an assistance package for X Number of Qualcomm years.
Because it will cost money (a lot of money, my understanding), phone manufacturers may not choose to pay for it. You or I would pay an additional $ 10 for a phone that we knew would get additional support, but not everyone would, so a phone manufacturer does not want to add $ 10 to the cost of a phone.
I’m going to look in a crystal ball and say that phones like the ultra galaxy S25 will be supported for eight years, but many phones using a mid -range Snapdragon Series 7 “chip will not. Currently, the OnePlus 13 will receive up to six years of updates, but even if the phone is powered by the Snapdragon 8 elite, OnePlus can choose not to extend support beyond what it has already promised simply because Qualcomm says it.
It is simply an economic question, even if customer service and sustainability should never be entirely based on the economy.
In addition, you should know that Qualcomm could do so for the past generations of its products also, but chooses not to do so. It is also a financial decision and without limiting itself to Qualcomm – each company that makes fleas could offer up to a decade of support if it was not as expensive for project engineers.
However, this decision makes phones more sustainable and even if manufacturers of phones may not be enthusiastic about the idea of offering eight years of updates for a phone they have already sold, some phones will see it. They may be the ones we should buy.
