Snapdragon 8 Elite Makes 8 Years Of Android Updates A Reality; Can Qualcomm Deliver Though?

Your next flagship might get up to 8 years of Android updates support with the recently launched Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. Qualcomm’s new top-end processor is bringing a lot more power. But it’s also addressing some pain points that manufacturers have had to deal with for a while. One of them was the limitation of the processor to deliver longer software support for devices.

As shared by Nicolas La Rocco, Qualcomm’s Senior VP and GM of handsets Chris Patrick informed that the Snapdragon 8 Elite will be supported with 8 years of Android updates. Android expert Mishaal Rehman talked about this in his X post, where he mentioned that the company will provide 8 years of BSP (Board support package) with the 8 Elite processor.

This also includes the Android version that the phone ships with, so a total of 7 years of updates. This is still big news for OEMs, as the current processors only support four major updates and four security patches. As a result, only a few brands, like Google (via Tensor CPUs) and Samsung, are able to pledge extended support.

Is 8 Years of Android Updates Realistic?

While Qualcomm might promise 8 years of support, it all comes down to manufacturers to decide whether they want to support their devices for that long. After all, they have to merge their skin with Qualcomm’s Android Board Support Packages (BSP).

Lately, we have seen brands warming up to the idea of longer software support. Both Google and Samsung recently promised 7 years of major Android updates. Brands like OnePlus already offer software support for 6 years on even their midrange phones like the Nord 4. On the other hand, OEMs like Motorola often abandon their devices just after one update, even after shipping with the best Snapdragon processors.

Even Google kind of rolled back their 7-year promise by shipping their latest Pixel 9 series with an older version of Android. Brands may or may not honor this promise, after all, promises are meant to be broken. So it is hard to say what the future holds. But this 8-year support does open up the opportunity for device manufacturers to ship more updates if they choose to.