Google’s prolonged Pixel updates show simply how necessary Tensor is

The Pixel 6 launched with Android 12 and was scheduled for 3 years of OS updates, which might have made this 12 months’s Android 15 improve the final main replace exterior of safety patches. Likewise, the Pixel 7 was scheduled to achieve the top of its OS upgrades subsequent 12 months, however these fashions will now see Android 17 and 18, respectively. That’s fairly the boon for shoppers who had maybe been pondering a brand new mannequin quickly, even if these telephones nonetheless rock {hardware} that’ll stay succesful for an additional few years.

As an apart, Google has proven up a lot of the broader smartphone world, with shock longevity for older flagships, to which it definitely had no obligation to throw a lifeline. The truth that a three-year-old Pixel will obtain OS updates for so long as the brand-new ROG Cellphone 9 Professional is fairly embarrassing should you’re ASUS. Sadly, Android rivals gained’t essentially have the ability to rise to Google’s problem, and the why has rather a lot to do with Tensor.

So, what does Tensor should do with all this? Properly, OS updates are strictly tied to chipset {hardware} help — it’s sadly not so simple as simply pushing new software program onto current units. Whereas the precise ins and outs are fairly difficult, the TL;DR is that chipset producers should implement Google’s low-level HAL and Linux kernel necessities to be licensed for Android updates, which spirals in complexity and prices the extra OS variations a chipset helps. To assist, 2020’s Google Necessities Freeze (GRF) program relaxed the principles, permitting for certification as the seller software program helps HAL and kernel necessities from the previous 4 years. So, a chipset that shipped with Android 12 may help Android 13, 14, and 15 with out an replace to the low-level {hardware} code, decreasing engineering prices for longer-term help. The disadvantage is that these updates gained’t essentially embody new Android {hardware} options.

You’ll observe, nonetheless, that that is in need of the four- to seven-year guarantees that some current flagship smartphones ship with. MediaTek and Qualcomm seemingly spend some engineering sources updating their chip software program to supply prolonged help, however this relies solely on the processor. Costly flagship silicon has the longest lifespans, whereas cheaper fashions largely miss out.

If you happen to’re ASUS, OnePlus, Xiaomi, or some other model that depends on MediaTek or Qualcomm processors, you’re just about caught with no matter stage of help the chip vendor provides because the higher restrict in your replace coverage, which appears to be about 4 years. Except you pay a hefty price to increase help or, in Samsung’s case (which additionally has Exynos to take care of), go the equally costly route of holding the chip implementation up-to-date your self. That being stated, some producers don’t even present all of the OS upgrades they may as a consequence of their very own value concerns, so an absence of updates isn’t at all times a chipset subject.

By creating Tensor in-house, Google has the management wanted to help its chips because it sees match. That is the way it’s been capable of supply longer-term help than the overwhelming majority of Android rivals for each flagship and funds handsets and the way it can shock us with additional help for older fashions seemingly out of nowhere.

That’s a luxurious you solely get by being on the helm of your entire processor growth course of, but it surely comes at a price, each when it comes to designing silicon and persevering with to replace the low-level software program. And that’s on prime of creating the precise OS updates for every telephone.

As for the Pixel 6 and seven, Google has presumably gone again to the unique Tensor and Tensor G2, patched up the low-level software program to a adequate stage, and may now proceed to help these chipsets and telephones for an additional few years. As a result of Google makes use of the identical chips throughout value factors, reasonably priced smartphones have benefitted too. In concept, it may do that for so long as it needed — or no less than till it grew to become uneconomical or too few handsets remained lively for it to be worthwhile. That stated, we definitely shouldn’t depend on Google including further years of help to its Pixel telephones once more sooner or later. The Pixel 8 collection and onwards already supply intensive seven-year replace insurance policies that’ll most likely outlast their {hardware}.

Google’s Tensor would possibly face loads of (honest) criticism for not being a benchmark-topping chip and appears set to fall additional behind its opponents in upcoming generations. However when it comes to offering worth for cash, it’s onerous to argue in opposition to the Pixel collection’ market-leading replace pledges, and now we have Tensor to thank for that partly.

Fortunately, Google is making it simpler for all Android units to see seven years of updates with its equally named however newer Longevity GRF program, permitting telephone producers to reuse as much as seven-year-old chipset software program (up from 4) when making use of Android updates, with a kernel replace required after each three years. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite is among the first chipsets within the Longevity GRF program, which means that upcoming flagships ought to see longer-term help than their predecessors, no less than in concept. After all, that doesn’t assist in the present day’s smartphones, a lot of that are caught with a handful of OS upgrades. Except MediaTek, Qualcomm, and their companions all of the sudden resolve they wish to spend some huge cash enhancing help for older fashions, we shouldn’t count on Android rivals to match Google’s shock lifespan extension for its older flagships.