Google has shared some good news today with Android fans. Starting with Snapdragon 888, future smartphones will be able to receive green robot updates and security patches for four years. Owners of the 2021 flagships can count on this extended support.
For their part, Qualcomm and Google have worked so that OEMs can update their devices to the latest version of the green robot without having to make changes to the chip’s software. This will reduce the cost of software releases and shorten the preparation time for updates.
Another prerequisite is support for Project Treble, and devices that have already entered the market will not be included in the list of those who can count on 4 years of updates. We are talking exclusively about new models. So far, no Android smartphone manufacturer has confirmed its readiness to take up the initiative of Google and Qualcomm.
We can say with a great amount of confidence that owners of future Pixel smartphones can count on 4-year support. Perhaps Samsung will also take this step, which this year has transferred its flagships to a 3-year update cycle.
It is expected that smartphones based on Android 11 that will run on new mid-range platforms from Qualcomm, which will start coming out from next year, will also get the opportunity to switch to a 4-year period for the arrival of updates and security patches. Of course, the initiative of Google and the chipmaker alone is not enough, but a start has been made. It’s up to the manufacturers of mobile devices.
Gizchina News of the week
Samsung, Huawei and Xiaomi topped the smartphone market in Q3 2020
Analytical agency Gartner has published another report on the smartphone market. As it turned out, in the third quarter of this year, 366 million smartphones were sold worldwide, which is 5.7% less than in the same period last year. And although the drop is noticeable, it is less than 20%, which the market fell by in the first half of the year.
Samsung is still the leader with 80.82 million units sold and 22% of the market. In general, of the Top 5 manufacturers, only Samsung and Xiaomi were able to increase sales – by 2.2% and 34.9%, respectively. Huawei is in second place with 51.83 million smartphones sold – its market share is 14.4%. Xiaomi sold 44.41 million smartphones – equivalent to a market share of 12.1%.
Apple is in fourth place. Between July and September, the company sold 40.6 million smartphones – its market share was 11.1%. Interestingly, Oppo is not far from Apple: in the third quarter; it sold 29.89 million smartphones (the market share of this company is 8.2%).
