Google’s prolonged Pixel updates show simply how vital 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 succeed in the tip of its OS upgrades subsequent 12 months, however these fashions will now see Android 17 and 18, respectively. That’s fairly the boon for customers 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 Phone 9 Pro is quite embarrassing when you’re ASUS. Unfortunately, Android rivals received’t essentially have the ability to rise to Google’s problem, and the why has loads to do with Tensor.

So, what does Tensor need to do with all this? Well, OS updates are strictly tied to chipset {hardware} assist — it’s sadly not so simple as simply pushing new software program onto current gadgets. While the precise ins and outs are fairly sophisticated, 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 Requirements 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 might assist Android 13, 14, and 15 with out an replace to the low-level {hardware} code, lowering engineering prices for longer-term assist. The downside is that these updates received’t essentially embody new Android {hardware} options.

You’ll notice, nevertheless, 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 assist, however this relies totally on the processor. Expensive flagship silicon has the longest lifespans, whereas cheaper fashions principally miss out.

If you’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 assist the chip vendor provides because the higher restrict in your replace coverage, which appears to be about 4 years. Unless you pay a hefty charge to increase assist or, in Samsung’s case (which additionally has Exynos to keep up), go the equally costly route of protecting the chip implementation up-to-date your self. That being stated, some producers don’t even present all of the OS upgrades they may on account of their very own value concerns, so an absence of updates is just not at all times a chipset problem.

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

That’s a luxurious you solely get by being on the helm of the whole processor growth course of, nevertheless it 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 high of growing the precise OS updates for every cellphone.

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 ample stage, and may now proceed to assist these chipsets and telephones for an additional few years. Because Google makes use of the identical chips throughout worth factors, inexpensive smartphones have benefitted too. In idea, it might do that for so long as it wished — or a minimum of 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 extra years of assist 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 in all probability 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. But when it comes to offering worth for cash, it’s laborious to argue in opposition to the Pixel collection’ market-leading replace pledges, and we now have Tensor to thank for that partially.

Thankfully, Google is making it simpler for all Android gadgets to see seven years of updates with its equally named however newer Longevity GRF program, permitting cellphone 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 likely one of the first chipsets within the Longevity GRF program, which means that upcoming flagships ought to see longer-term assist than their predecessors, a minimum of in idea. Of course, that doesn’t assist at the moment’s smartphones, a lot of that are caught with a handful of OS upgrades. Unless MediaTek, Qualcomm, and their companions all of the sudden resolve they need to spend some huge cash enhancing assist for older fashions, we shouldn’t anticipate Android rivals to match Google’s shock lifespan extension for its older flagships.