Google’s extended Pixel updates prove just how important Tensor is

The Pixel 6 launched with Android 12 and was scheduled for three years of OS updates, which would have made this year’s Android 15 upgrade the last major update outside of security patches. Likewise, the Pixel 7 was scheduled to reach the end of its OS upgrades next year, but these models will now see Android 17 and 18, respectively. That’s quite the boon for consumers who had perhaps been pondering a new model soon, despite the fact that these phones still rock hardware that’ll remain capable for another few years.

As an aside, Google has shown up much of the wider smartphone world, with surprise longevity for older flagships, to which it certainly had no obligation to throw a lifeline. The fact that a three-year-old Pixel will receive OS updates for as long as the brand-new ROG Phone 9 Pro is rather embarrassing if you’re ASUS. Unfortunately, Android rivals won’t necessarily be able to rise to Google’s challenge, and the why has a lot to do with Tensor.

So, what does Tensor have to do with all this? Well, OS updates are strictly tied to chipset hardware support — it’s unfortunately not as simple as just pushing new software onto existing devices. While the exact ins and outs are pretty complicated, the TL;DR is that chipset manufacturers must implement Google’s low-level HAL and Linux kernel requirements to be certified for Android updates, which spirals in complexity and costs the more OS versions a chipset supports. To help, 2020’s Google Requirements Freeze (GRF) program relaxed the rules, allowing for certification as the vendor software supports HAL and kernel requirements from the past four years. So, a chipset that shipped with Android 12 could support Android 13, 14, and 15 without an update to the low-level hardware code, reducing engineering costs for longer-term support. The drawback is that these updates won’t necessarily include new Android hardware features.

You’ll note, however, that this is short of the four- to seven-year promises that some recent flagship smartphones ship with. MediaTek and Qualcomm seemingly spend some engineering resources updating their chip software to provide extended support, but this depends entirely on the processor. Expensive flagship silicon has the longest lifespans, while cheaper models mostly miss out.

If you’re ASUS, OnePlus, Xiaomi, or any other brand that relies on MediaTek or Qualcomm processors, you’re pretty much stuck with whatever level of support the chip vendor supplies as the upper limit on your update policy, which seems to be about four years. Unless you pay a hefty fee to extend support or, in Samsung’s case (which also has Exynos to maintain), go the equally expensive route of keeping the chip implementation up-to-date yourself. That being said, some manufacturers don’t even provide all the OS upgrades they could due to their own cost considerations, so a lack of updates is not always a chipset issue.

By developing Tensor in-house, Google has the control needed to support its chips as it sees fit. This is how it’s been able to offer longer-term support than the vast majority of Android rivals for both flagship and budget handsets and how it can surprise us with extra support for older models seemingly out of nowhere.

That’s a luxury you only get by being at the helm of the entire processor development process, but it comes at a cost, both in terms of designing silicon and continuing to update the low-level software. And that’s on top of developing the actual OS updates for each phone.

As for the Pixel 6 and 7, Google has presumably gone back to the original Tensor and Tensor G2, patched up the low-level software to a sufficient level, and can now continue to support these chipsets and phones for another few years. Because Google uses the same chips across price points, affordable smartphones have benefitted too. In theory, it could do this for as long as it wanted — or at least until it became uneconomical or too few handsets remained active for it to be worthwhile. That said, we certainly shouldn’t count on Google adding additional years of support to its Pixel phones again in the future. The Pixel 8 series and onwards already offer extensive seven-year update policies that’ll probably outlast their hardware.

Google’s Tensor might face plenty of (fair) criticism for not being a benchmark-topping chip and looks set to fall further behind its competitors in upcoming generations. But in terms of providing value for money, it’s hard to argue against the Pixel series’ market-leading update pledges, and we have Tensor to thank for that in part.

Thankfully, Google is making it easier for all Android devices to see seven years of updates with its similarly named but newer Longevity GRF program, allowing phone manufacturers to reuse up to seven-year-old chipset software (up from four) when applying Android updates, with a kernel update required after every three years. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite is one of the first chipsets in the Longevity GRF program, meaning that upcoming flagships should see longer-term support than their predecessors, at least in theory. Of course, that doesn’t help today’s smartphones, many of which are stuck with a handful of OS upgrades. Unless MediaTek, Qualcomm, and their partners suddenly decide they want to spend a lot of money improving support for older models, we shouldn’t expect Android rivals to match Google’s surprise lifespan extension for its older flagships.