Google will provide Chromebooks with updates for ten years

Google will provide Chromebooks with updates for ten years. The company will do this starting next year for Chromebooks released in 2021 or later. Users of older Chromebooks will have the option to enable those longer updates.

Google releases these ‘automatic updates’, including security fixes, for Chromebooks every four weeks. The company has currently been doing this for eight years. Starting next year, laptops will receive these updates for ten years after their release. Chromebooks should therefore last longer, so the manufacturer says in a press release. Google says it works with all manufacturers that produce Chromebook components to “develop and test the software on every single Chromebook.”

Chromebooks released in 2021 or later will automatically receive the extended 10-year Automatic Updates period. Users and IT administrators with older Chromebooks will have the option to enable that extended support. They can do that after they receive their last official update.

Google also says it is releasing updates to its Chromebook repair program, which will allow authorized technicians to perform software repairs without a USB key. This should more than halve the time needed for such repairs, the tech giant claims. In the coming months, the company will also release new energy efficiency features, including adaptive charging and a new energy saving mode.