The year 2021 will be for technology, the tech giants are already gearing up with exciting announcements. Recently, Qualcomm has partnered with Google to have support for three-generation OS update. In other words, the Snapdragon-powered handsets will enjoy four Android OS updates including the pre-installed one. Alongside these handsets will get monthly security updates as well. This announcement comes from Qualcomm, not sure about the other OEM or smartphone makers. However, Samsung has seen with Android 11 OS support even on their budget handsets. Anyway, Project Treble was around there since 2017 with the same goal from Google.
The Project Treble
The ambition of the project treble is to release Android OS faster. But with the faster OS release, the Smartphone makers found it hard to give support for 2-3Year old handsets. That ultimately leads to a slower device and vulnerable as well. But the things have changed from the Android P release, Google now releasing next update in less than a year. Generally, we the consumer are not paying attention to behind the sense of OS release and we should not. We should have the latest OS as soon as it is available for the public.
In the latest development, the Qualcomm and the Android particularly addressed this problem by enabling architecture to support future OS capabilities. The Snapdragon 888 will have 4 OS support (pre-installed + 3 OS updates) along with 4 years of security updates. This eventually makes consumers worry less as not all have mindsets to purchase every new flagship handsets each year. These 4 Years update definitely a big relief to them who are concerned about smartphone security.
In my opinion, Samsung’s Exynos should have this ambition as well. In many countries, Samsung is the #1 smartphone selling company and most of the handsets have Exynos chipset inside. Anyway, Samsung also promised the Galaxy Note 20 Serice will enjoy three generations of OS update. Besides, the budget handsets have even seen having the latest OS support. Even before these handsets are official, evidenced by GeekBench listing.