With the introduction of Pixel 8, Google announced a remarkable change in its plan to bring 7 years of updates to the phones. According to the company, it is the right thing to do based on its observations in the earlier generation smartphones it offered in the past.
The move marks a significant move in the industry. Unlike other brands, Google’s plan is to provide not only security updates but also the latest features and platform improvements to its new devices for 7 years.
In a recent episode of the Made by Google podcast, Google Vice President of Devices and Services Seang Chau explained how the company came up with the decision. As Chau shared, some points contributed to this, including its switch to year-round beta programs and Quarterly Platform Releases, collaboration with its Android team, and more. Nonetheless, of all these things, the executive pointed out that it all started with the company’s observation of the devices that are still active despite being sold years ago.
“So when we look at the trajectory of where the original Pixel that we launched in 2016 landed and how many people were still using the first Pixel, we saw that actually, there’s quite a good active user base until probably about the seven-year mark,” Chau explained. “So if we think about, okay, we want to be able to support Pixel for as long as people are using the device, then seven years is about that right number.”
