Google this week revealed an expanded support span for Qualcomm System-on-Chip (SoC) versions launching for Android 11 and later smartphones.
Apps are now providing coverage for a three-year cycle, including security fixes, although going users forward would receive an extra year of operating system and security upgrades.
The step, says the Internet search giant, is intended to assist manufacturers and consumers alike, and to ensure greater consistency. It is also followed by a concept of no retroactivity that extends to all computers and SoCs (previously, SoC requirements were retroactive).
With this update, the SoC provider could support Android for application releases as well as updates on the same vendor implementations on their SoCs,” Google says.”
Google is now reporting in collaboration with Qualcomm that all Qualcomm mobile platforms with SoCs that exploit the no-retroactivity concept will provide support for four iterations of Android OS, along with four years of protection upgrades.
To help minimise all upgrade and launch prices, all Qualcomm users will be able to take advantage of this reliability and can now maintain their products for longer periods of time,” Google says.”
In effect, the move could result in enhanced overall mobile protection for all SoCs launching with Android 11 and later. The longer smartphones undergo software patches, the better they are, provided that thousands of Android bugs are fixed daily.
