Rumor: Google will give Pixel 6 and 6 Pro Android updates for five years

Google would like to provide the upcoming Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro smartphones with Android updates for five years. The company would design the processor of the devices itself, whether or not partly, so that the required support would become possible.

The claim of five years of updates for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro smartphones comes from John Prosser, who also lists the specifications of the devices. He claims to have heard the information from a reliable source. Prosser already showed images of the suspected Pixel 6 and 6 Pro in May.

The processor of the smartphones is according to the information from Google itself. That is in line with previous rumors that the company wants to release smartphones with its own designed soc called Whitechapel. According to those rumors, this would appear in variants with code names ‘Raven’ and ‘Oriole’ and were developed in collaboration with Samsung. According to the rumors, the socs would largely correspond to Samsung’s Exynos designs, which appear to be so-called semi-custom socs. Prosser speaks of codenames Oriel for the Pixel 6 and Raven for the 6 Pro.

Partly because of that custom chipset, Google could offer support for five years, it seems. With current smartphones, the limited support by the soc manufacturer often means that smartphones continue to receive Android updates for a relatively short time. The current Pixel generations, for example, concern version updates for Android and security updates ‘up to at least’ three years after the device came into the Google Store.

It is not known when Google would like to announce the devices. Prosser claims to have heard about a release around October. The Pixel 5a still seems to be coming before then. Google has confirmed the arrival of that device and data about it appeared this week at the FCC agency, according to 9to5Google. The cheaper smartphone seems to come in three variants and will be very similar in design to the Pixel 4a 5G. The Pixel 5a also gets the Snapdragon 765 that is also in the Pixel 5 and 4a 5G.

Render of suspected design Google Pixel 6