Announced in 2017, Project Treble is Google’s ambitious effort to modular redesign of Android’s low-level code created for silicon vendors is separated from the main Android operating system framework so that device manufacturers can update the OS code without having to rely on silicon vendors to refresh the lower-level code for every release.
Now Google and Qualcomm have been further optimized and simplified the system, which will bring additional benefits for those who own devices with Snapdragon SoCs.
Google is making changes to Project Treble, so Qualcomm has to maintain fewer versions of device-specific low-level software. By this, Snapdragon powered devices with Project Treble support will not only increase the longevity of Android update support, but also more consistent support.
Now on all system-on-a-chips offered by Qualcomm will support a total of four Android generations and four years of Android security updates. In detail, Qualcomm supports the Android generation supplied with the device as well as three more.
At Google, these changes to Project Treble are being implemented with all SoCs that come onto the market in a device with Android 11. Qualcomm, in turn, is implementing the changes from the recently introduced Snapdragon 888, but wants to implement this in the future for all Snapdragons and explicitly also for the SoCs below.
