Google is currently working with chip manufacturer Qualcomm in order to be able to provide updates to Android smartphones for a longer period of time. Up to now, chip manufacturers often had to adapt their SoCs to be compatible with new Android versions or security updates. Changes in Google’s Project Treble should now bring a simplified update process, which should get by without constant adjustments.

Project Treble was developed by Google in 2017 with the purpose of speeding up the update process of Android phones. For this purpose, Google built in a “vendor interface” as an interface between the device-specific drivers and the manufacturer-independent Android system. This made it possible for smartphone manufacturers to update the “superstructure” of Android without having to modify device-specific parts; this was now the task of chip manufacturers, for example Qualcomm.

In the future, chip manufacturers should be able to cover several Android versions with a single implementation. Up to four Android versions and four years of security patches should be guaranteed. Since the version of Android already installed at the beginning counts, Google speaks of three Android updates in this context. This is intended to increase the lifespan of Android smartphones in general. Customers are often forced to upgrade because their current smartphone uses an outdated Android version, which makes some apps in the Play Store incompatible.

However, it remains to be seen whether the efforts of Google and Qualcomm will actually result in a better and longer lasting supply of updates. Because although an obstacle has been removed with the support of several versions of the SoCs, it is still up to the smartphone manufacturers to provide updates for their models.

The innovation is said to be the first with the Snapdragon 888 find their way into smartphones, mid-range SoCs should also appear with the new system in the future. Processors that have already been released will not benefit from the new technology, however. It is also currently uncertain whether other chip manufacturers will integrate the feature into their SoCs.