Google Breaks 7-Year Android Update Promise With Pixel 9 Launch

August 13 was a great day for Google and Pixel fans globally as the curtains were finally open on the Pixel 9 series. While the new Pixels bring pretty decent improvements and new AI features over the previous-gen Pixels, one of the odd things about this launch is that unlike Pixel launches each year, the Pixel 9 series doesn’t come with the latest Android version – Android 15. Does this mean Google is already backtracking on its 7-year update promise? Let’s shed some light on it.

Update: added an Editor’s Note explaining how I see the situation and how Google breaks the promise of the number of OS updates.

Pixel 9: Did Google Just Break Its Own Update Promise?

Google’s 7-year update announcement came during the launch of the Pixel 8 series, and it took the Android community by storm. Beating Apple in the updates game was a huge deal, after all. While most people were happy with the announcement, some questioned if Google would actually adhere to its promise. That’s because the firm isn’t exactly known for keeping and fulfilling them.

Fast-forward a year, and Google might have started backtracking on its promise. The Pixel 9 series comes with Android 14 out of the box instead of Android 15, which was extremely shocking for a new Pixel device. Now, before we get ahead of ourselves, there might’ve been many factors at play in the firm internally. These could be reasons why Android 15 didn’t release alongside the Pixel 9 series.

However, our counter question to this is that Android 15 Beta 4 rolled out a month ago and had already reached platform stability. While the release timeline on the official website doesn’t mention stable Android 15’s release date, new Pixels have always received the latest Android update a month or two after the final beta. Hence, had Google willed, they could’ve released Android 15 alongside Pixel 9. But again, it is possible that they wanted to do it, but the stable builds weren’t ready.

Pixel 9 and 8 Series Get The Same Number of Android Updates

The last reason could be that Google deliberately wanted to deduct an update early from the 7-year update quota because they just don’t want to support the Pixel 9 series till Android 22. This means the Pixel 9 technically still gets 7 years of updates, but it’s actually only 6 Android updates after Android 15 and feature drops till August 2031.

Editor’s Note: I have read all the comments and discussions around this post online and would like to add another piece of evidence to justify the title. Pixel phones usually launch with the latest Android versions. The Pixel 9 series didn’t, which is a shame. After the announcement, it made me question the “7 years of OS updates” promise too, so I went looking for the Pixel 9 update support page, which validates our statement.

As per the Google support page, the Pixel 9 series will receive ‘guaranteed Android version updates’ until at least August 2031. That means if Google doesn’t change the timeline for the release of new Android updates then the Pixel 9 series will only get up to the Android 21 update; while all phones should’ve gotten up to Android 22 if it followed the usual release cycle.

This breaks the 7-year OS update promise in my mind as new Pixels should launch with the new Android version. Pixel 9 series launching with Android 14 (and not Android 15) essentially discounts one year of OS updates from that promise. So, that’s my two cents on this topic.

Now, as complex as this situation is, it’s quite common in the Android world. When a manufacturer launches a phone with, say, Android 14 and promises three major updates, users assume that the phone will get updates till Android 17.

As a result, many manufacturers use a tactic where they release a phone when a new Android version is just around the corner. This is so that they could count the new “soon to release” Android version update in the update quota. Google has now done the same with the Pixel 9 series.

Google’s 7 Years promise states all the major Android versions and feature drops released during those years. Considering a new Android version is usually released in September or October and the Pixel 9 is supported till August 13, 2031, unless Android 22 is released before August 14 (which is unlikely), it’s safe to say that Pixel 9 won’t get Android 22.

Ultimately, the reason behind this mess is due to Google launching the Pixel 9 series one month prior than usual. This could be because Google thought it would be better to launch the phones before the iPhone 16 series which is scheduled to launch in September, or it could be because Google didn’t want to launch Pixel 9 with Android 15 because it would then mean they’d have to support it till Android 22.

Backtracking on Updates or Free Update Compensation?

For those wondering if Android 15 will be a free update and won’t count in the quota, the Made by Google event, like the Google I/O, barely mentioned Android 15, and that makes us believe that Google will count the upcoming Android 15 update for the Pixel 9 series in the 7-year quota.

This means that by the end of 2031, both the Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 9 series will have received the same number of Android updates and will be on the same Android version, i.e., Android 21. The latter however will receive one extra year of feature drops.

What are your thoughts on Google launching the Pixel 9 series early with Android 14 instead of Android 15? Do you think this was a deliberate move from Google to make achieving the 7-year update promise a bit easier? Let us know in the comments.