Qualcomm promises support for eight generations of Android on Snapdragon 8 Elite

Oct 23, 20243:19 PM EDT 0 comments

Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Elite chip for smartphones will support eight generations of Android, a major step up for the company.

Chris Patrick, the company’s senior vice president and general manager of handsets, made the announcement during Qualcomm’s annual Snapdragon Summit in Maui, Hawaii. Android expert Mishaal Rahman picked up the news, sharing that the eight generations “includes the original OS release,” so realistically, customers can expect support for up to seven Android upgrades.

Post by @mishaal_rahman

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Specifically, Qualcomm will offer board support package (BSP) support for that amount of time, but manufacturers still have to do the work of customizing the BSP for their devices and needs. While that does, unfortunately, mean we won’t see every Android phone maker adopt seven or eight-year software support promises, it should at least make it easier for phone makers to offer extended software support.

Here’s hoping that the move means we see longer support from more phone makers. Currently, Apple, Google and Samsung lead with promises of five to seven years of software support.

However, it remains to be seen what happens with Qualcomm’s newest chip as Arm escalates a legal battle with the company. Arm notified Qualcomm it would terminate its chip design license in 60 days, potentially putting the 8 Elite and other Snapdragon chips at risk.

Header image credit: Qualcomm

Source: Mishaal Rahman (Threads) Via: Android Authority