Google Promises 2 Years Of Android Version Updates For Pixel Smartphones

Google’s Pixel and Pixel XL are both selling like pancakes reportedly being sold out in a lot of models. Now that a lot of users have the new smartphones in their hands, many are now wondering how long will Google provide the handsets with Android version updates.

To make it clear to everyone, Google recently updated the support page for Nexus devices stating that both the Pixel and Pixel XL will have updates until October 2018. “Pixel phones get Android version updates for at least 2 years from when the device became available on the Google store,” the company wrote. “After 2 years, we can’t guarantee additional updates.” The company also clarified that the Pixels phones will get security patches until October 2019.

One of the many reasons why a lot of people bought Google’s Nexus handsets was because they always got timely security updates and were guaranteed to have more or less than two years of Android upgrades. For example, the 2013 Nexus 5 is only upgradable to 2015’s Marshmallow update, as pointed out by Android Police. This is a big advantage over other OEMs that are still struggling to make sure that updates and upgrades are made available as soon as Google pushes them out.

Luckily, Google isn’t ditching that tradition for the Pixel phones, and it will surely put a lot of users who prioritize upgradability at ease. Although Google said that it can’t guarantee Android upgrades after two years, there’s still a possibility that a major update will still be released for the Pixel phones. The company did say “at least 2 years,” which suggests a possibility of that happening.

With that in mind, Google currently release a new version of Android once a year, so Pixel users should expect at least two major software upgrades. The Pixel phones are currently running Android 7.1 Nougat, and the handsets are eligible for Android 8 “O” for next year and Android 9 “P” in 2018.