Google Now Gives Pixel Phones More OS Updates Than iPhones: What It Really Means

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posted on 1 year ago — updated on 1 second ago

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Google wants to give people more reasons to consider buying the Pixels over iPhones and the new move could definitely help.

Google Pixel 8 series was announced on Wednesday and the phones are coming to India as well. There was a lot of talk around Google’s AI tech and the cameras. But the important stuff came pretty much at the end, when Rick Osterloh, SVP, Devices & Services at Google shared the update about software support.

He announced that the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro will get 7 years of OS upgrades, which effectively keeps the Pixel 8 series relevant in the market till 2030.

Apple has been the market leader with iOS support of 5 years for iPhones and stayed true to its promise all this while. But the big news from Google means it has overtaken Apple by a couple of years, which could make Pixels all the more appealing to buyers.

Google has started using its own Tensor chip since the Pixel 6 series was launched. And now it feels capable enough of handling longer software support for the phones. Using your own hardware has paid rich dividends for Apple, allowing better control over performance and other aspects.

Even though Google operates in an open-source world, the Pixel’s version of Android is probably one of the best in the market, because it has full control over its engineering and performance. It is good to see Google change its stance on OS updates but we still have a few questions for the company. First up, does 7 years of OS updates mean you will get 7 Android versions on the Pixel 8 series phones, and how many of these will get security updates?

Secondly, what about the other Tensor-powered Pixel phones, won’t they get more OS updates? We’re hoping for some more clarity on this from Google which could help people decide whether they want to invest in the new Pixel phones.

And once we’re done figuring out these technical aspects, we would like to understand if these phones will be able to handle the load of daily usage for these many years and still offer reliable performance. After all, nobody these days uses phones for more than 3-4 years. Bringing 7 years of updates is well and good but only if the device can last that long.