Ryan Haines / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google has officially added two additional years of update commitments to the Pixel 6, Pixel 7, and Pixel Fold.
- That means the Pixel 6 will see support until Android 17, and the Pixel 7 and Pixel Fold will see Android 18.
- Notably, the Google Pixel 6 series should already be done with updates.
When Google launched the Pixel 8 series in 2023, it surprised us all by confirming that the phones would get a whopping seven years of software support. That meant seven Android upgrades, 28 Pixel Drops, and 84 security patches. This commitment continued with the Pixel 9 series launched earlier this year.
Unfortunately, that meant the Pixel 6 series, Pixel 7 series, and Pixel Fold would be stuck with the older three-year commitment. Notably, that meant Android 15 would be the final upgrade for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. However, today, Google quietly updated its support page to show that the Pixel 6 series, Pixel 7 series, and Pixel Fold will now get an additional two years of updates!
That means each phone series gets five years of support starting from its launch date. That means the Pixel 6 series will see Android 16 and Android 17. Meanwhile, the Pixel 7 series and the Pixel Fold will see Android 16, Android 17, and Android 18.
As far as we can tell, there have been no changes for any other Pixel products, including the Pixel Tablet and any Pixel Watches.
We had a hint that support commitments were changing when Google rolled out the first Android 16 Developer Preview. That preview program supported the Pixel 6 series, which was unexpected. Now we know why!