Updates: Qualcomm and Google engage in a decisive turning point for smartphones
The subject was quickly mentioned at the end of 2024, during the Snapdragon Summit which had hosted the new high -end mobile chip from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 8 Elite. Software updates of smartphones and other tablets, which are both the work of smartphones manufacturers, those of Google (which publishes Android) and the intrinsic potential of chipsets who equip them, were then at the heart of the debates, and Qualcomm evoked, for his Snapdragon 8 Elite precisely, a potential of 8 years of update. The American founder relaunches the subject, since he announces today a boost on the subject of updatesthanks to joint work with Google.
Qualcomm and Google offer, third -party manufacturers have
It is a program developed with Google that Qualcomm announces today. The idea is to provide OEMs (that is, smartphones manufacturers) the necessary tools so that they can update their products for eight years. “That a mobile phone or smartphone receives all of the software support offered by Qualcomm is the manufacturer”indicates the American. But the potential is there: the terminals equipped with Snapdragon 8 Elite chips (and all Snapdragon 8 chips to come), as well as those with Snapdragon 7 series from February 2025, can be upgraded for eight years, if The brand of these products operates the tools delivered by Qualcomm. This includes Android updates as well as associated safety fixes.
This small software revolution is currently concerned with upcoming products with the Snapdragon 8 Elite associated with Android 15; We can only hope that smartphones announced as part of the Barcelona Mobile World Congressin less than a week (for example, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra) be the first to benefit from this program. “Later this year, smartphones and mobile phones launched on new Snapdragon 8 mobile platforms and Snapdragon 7 will also be eligible for the extensive software support offered by Qualcomm”specifies the American. For series 7, therefore, it will be necessary to wait more, but the news is no less interesting: long -term updates will no longer be the prerogative of premium smartphones, but will be accessible to mid -range terminals.
As for the chips prior to this day (we think in particular of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 equipping most of the premium smartphones of 2024), they are not affected by the new announcements of Qualcomm and Google; Samsung remains the most generous on the market, since it supports this chipset 7 years ofupdates within Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Legal constraints on the horizon
Recall that the concept of Android updates and security patches is today on the scene. While theEuropean Commission is preparing to force mobile brands to match their new 5 -year updates – By the summer of 2025 – the manufacturers hastened to show their efforts to comply with its directives. In this sense, they follow the efforts carried out by Google, which offers seven years of follow -up on its products since the launch of Pixel 8 (fall of 2023, with his Tensor chips) and Samsung, who aligned himself with Mountain View in January 2024, at the end of his Pixel 8.
