Google Extends Linux Kernel Support for Android

32 thoughts on “Google Extends Linux Kernel Support for Android”

• One just gotta love how google wants Linux kernel LTS every six years but enforces Android apps to target latest Android with penalties.

• So what happens when a phone will receive 7 years of updates and the Kernel only offers 4 or 6 years of updates? Is there a Kernel upgrade happening on a specific OTA upgrade?

• How about we invest in bringing down States that harbor and sanction hackers and create a world guided by a body of laws that make it less attractive to engage in privacy intrusions, for both governments and individuals/groups? Oh. Why ruin a good thing. There's money to be made in dem hills.

• This is fantastic news! Yes, this is one of the most important things that I look for in a phone before I buy one. Thanks for the update!

• Defo a point of consideration when purchasing an Android device, more so in today's buy and throw away norm …

• Qualcomm should just upstream their drivers so android can use a modern linux kernel without back-porting everything

• I don't understand how is decrease of the support time by Google for the Android kernel from 6 to 4 years beneficial or positive for the end users? Google should lead the support time especially on their Pixel HW and always try to increase it as much a possible, not the opposite! Long support lifetime is a showcase of company's commitment to end user/customer as well it shows right approach towards sustainability, especially when device is also scoring well on the repairability scale. Google has increased support lifetime with latest Pixels, however it should do more to beat Apple. Samsung is also falling behind by providing security Android OS updates and upgrades only with their flagship Galaxy devices.

• I'm one of the weirdos that want to use the phone as mostly a phone, not for everything. I specifically didn't installed the banking app, as I don't want it, and overall I don't trust phone in general that much, and above else, I don't like to have so much of everything in one place. I don't want a fatal panic attack if my phone is lost, destroyed or stolen.

  So, with the above, if Fairphone would've had a headphone jack it would be about perfect for me. Though I would settle for a phone that has 2 USB ports if it doesn't have a headphone jack. I do use the headphone jack (best placed on the top of the phone, not next to the charging port) and I do use a microSD card too, so that's a requirement too.
  The camera and performance they don't need to be great, but not super slow/old either. I do same games and I do feel like my Samsung Note 9 is a bit slow and laggy at times.
  I do want access, control and a design that's repair friendly, that's why I mentiond Fairphone (don't ask why I got a Samsung, I knew much less about the landscape then, I bought it mostly for the "it has many features and doesn't have that idiotic notch which I hate").
  Speaking of, I hate notches, and I DO like having a bit of bezels. Phone with a notch, even if it's just a small circular one – total deal breaker. Phone with rounded corners – don't want to hear about them.

  Too bad that GrapheneOS only works on Pixel phones, I heard it is a great OS. Even if the phones are great technically, I don't want to hear about them either. I don't want to support 60Ogle in their gigantic spyware and slowly closing arena that is Android (cough 6o0gle services cough)

• Given Android runs on top of the Linux kernel – I wonder if you can run normal desktop Linux software on a Rooted Android device.

  Can we run Android applications on Desktop Linux?

  What about a rooted Android device running desktop Linux where Android apps could be run in containers?

• Hi! Project Mainline is progressing slowly but too slowly in my opinion. Like, the current device powered by Snapdragon 845 is plenty fast with good battery life but stuck on older Android 11 despite 845 having good (linux) mainline kernel support. PostmarketOS exists but bootloader unlock has to be supported by the OEM. Unfortunately, not many OEMs support the unlock process.

  Seriously considering x86 handhelds with linuxos, the only issue being lack of good camera(s). Maybe that'll change soon!

• I baught a fairphone 4 because of its support 5 year warranty and at least 5 years of updates

• Ongoing support with updates is the main reason why I finally switched from Android to Apple a couple of years ago.

• Linux foundation spends more on diversity programs these days than actual Linux. Shameful.

• I believe we should start calling Android phones "Closed Linux Phones" to help people realize they are actually using a Linux-based system, albeit with proprietary packages from Google. Maybe then, people would better understand the importance of open source.

• Headphone support (wired and wireless), storage support (decent internal and expandable), charging support (wireless and fast wired) and camera (16-125mm (35mm equivalent) focal lengths, at least 4k (8mp) resolution with good sensors) are my primary considerations, but if they are all ok, android updates would probably be the next thing. However, I think Sony Xperia 1 mark ii to vi are the only recent phones (since LG and proper Nokia (808 Pureview) disappeared and Samsung and Apple dropped wired headphone support) that currently match my primary considerations, so I'm stuck with whatever software support they provide.

• Does that mean Manufacturers will be required to update the kernel if they guarantee for example 5 OS Upgrades?

• Google is promising 7 years of updates for Pixel 8 and beyond – including 8a – yet only 4 years of Kernel updates? Sure, malicious software has to come that far for Kernel level security issues to be relevant, but still it doesn't sound that well thought through. At least judging on their current practice of never updating the Kernel version itself and only doing backports. And I don't know of any OEM doing anything else. Of course if Google where able to force chipset manufacturers to open source all their drivers and upstream them, it would probably get easier to just ship Android Upgrades with the latest LTS Kernel and only have the extended support be relevant for OEMs that only offer upgrades for a shorter period but still ship security updates for a longer time. But OEMs would surely try to sue Google over that, so hell probably freezes over first.

• Security updates are very important, yet project mainline is important too.

  I believe a video about it would be awesome since there were big changes in Android 14 and I guess they will keep the momentum for Android 15

• I generally upgrade phones roughly every 3 years and the phone that I upgrade from will get passed down and used for another 3 years, for a total of 6. So, I would want security updates and bug fixes for that period of time. A proven track record of providing security updates like that is probably the most important thing to me, even if it costs more. Camera would probably come in second since I want something good to take photos and videos at events (for non-profits and community groups) to share with the organizers. Everything else is a distant third.

• A video on the Open Source community's ongoing support of EOL phones like the Oneplus 6 might be interesting. This can now run a mainline Linux kernel (albeit without camera support yet due to secret closed source image processing techniques in the vendor drivers).

• i'm not someone who replace their devices more frequently than their underwear. having said that, unless a reviewer discusses the LTS details, you really don't know at the time of purchase. pretty …here's my credit card. 🙂

• Must admit with my computer I always use Linux with LTS but haven't thought much about phone. Recently bought new phone with Android 13 which has since upgraded to 14. Was unaware of association between Linux kernel and Android.

• Support length and timely security updates are very important to me. It’s an absolute scandal that OEMs rarely support their devices for more than a few years after launch.

• For me. The feature time is the more important date i look at when looking into a phone. When the phone stops receiving updates i typically install a custom rom on it

• I'm a fanboi of Apple and syncs between my Iphone and ipad. For work and gaming I am a Windows and Linux user. That means I don't follow the life span of a product but I refresh when my brain says "time to upgrade".

• Good news for those of us who are technically minded but have you ever asked the staff in a high street phone vendor a question about kernel support? 😂

• Thanks for the interesting video. We used to purchase mid priced Android phones from a couple major cellphone companies, but then found that they often used Android versions that couldn’t get any updates at all. Unfortunately those companies didn’t mention that in any of their literature. Needless to say, we found that problematic when notorious Android bugs were announced. At the time, we looked at higher end Android phones but found that they guaranteed OS upgrades/updates for significantly fewer years than for iPhones. So instead of getting high end Android phones, we replaced our Android phones worth iPhones. I must admit that we had some impetus to move in that direction, because we already used iPads, but the OS update issue was the major factor.

  So I’m wondering if that Android maintenance schedule pertains to low to mid range cost Android phones? Do all Android cellphone manufacturers adhere to that schedule? If not, then which companies do adhere to it?
  

• Hey Gary…please help me understand why my Google pixel updated to Android 15 beta, is still on kernel 5.10.xxx-android-13.4. Are the olderer devices tagged to old linux kernel but rest of the AOSP upgraded to Android 15 based on the device we are using.

• Above 3 Android version release upgrades and 4-5 years of security updates anything is pretty equivalent.

• Mainstream ? Mainline ? Please explain…

• Very informative video 🎉, thank you.

  For regular buyers, I doubt anyone actually knows about this. As an Android developer, to be honest, I didn't know about this till now 😂.

  So yeah, I think it's something to consider, however, we sometimes stick with a phone for more than 6 years, which is longer than the support duration. Therefore, I don't think it is being considered when purchasing a phone.

• Hey Gary, I like the Penguin background behind you 😃

Comments are closed.