Exclusive: Here’s how Google is making it easier for Android devices to get

[phillynews215]

• Google announced a new program called longevity GRF earlier this year that makes it easier for chipset vendors to support their platforms for 7 years of Android updates.
• Chipsets under longevity GRF can use the same vendor software through 7 years of Android OS updates.
• Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite is the first chipset to be part of the longevity GRF program.

Nobody wants to get rid of a perfectly functional smartphone, but unfortunately, the phone update policies of many Android manufacturers make it risky to keep using one after a few years. Fortunately, there’s a recent trend in the industry towards extending software support, with some of the best Android phones now getting up to 7 years of updates. However, not many companies are offering this level of support, but Google is hoping to change that with its new Longevity GRF program.

What is GRF?

GRF, which stands for Google Requirements Freeze, is the name of a program that Google launched in 2020 to make it easier for chipset vendors like Qualcomm and MediaTek to support 3 years of Android OS updates. GRF makes good on the promise of Project Treble, an architectural change that Google introduced in 2017 that modularized Android to separate the OS framework from lower-level vendor and Linux kernel software. The problem with Project Treble is that while it made it easier for OEMs to support Android OS updates, it actually increased the complexity for chipset vendors. This is because chipset vendors now had to support both devices that launched with the original version of Android that the chipset’s vendor software was built for as well as devices that launched with newer versions of Android.




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