Pixel 8 leak promises 7 years of OS updates—even more than an iPhone

Enlarge / Leaked pictures from Google's promo site show off the Pixel 8 Pro in a lovely blue. (credit: Kamila Wojciechowska )

The Pixel 8 is rapidly approaching its October 4 unveiling, but before then there are a bunch of leaks out there. Reliable leaker Kamila Wojciechowska has a whole list of Pixel 8 and 8 Pro specs over at 91mobiles, along with some Pixel market materials. The big news is that Google is finally giving its Pixel phones a longer support window. Pixel phones are getting seven years of updates, which is longer than Apple. Google pitches the Pixel phones as the flagship of the Android ecosystem, and now, if this spec sheet pans out, the OS maker is finally giving them an update plan to match.

Currently, Pixel phones have three years of OS updates and five years of security updates, which is not only beaten by Apple's update policy but is also inexplicably worse than many of Google's Android partners. For instance, Samsung and OnePlus offer four years of OS updates, albeit with some caveats around arrival times and the security update cadence. Apple doesn't have a policy written in stone anywhere, but with the iPhone X not making the jump to iOS17, that makes for a five-year major OS update policy if you're counting to 2022's iOS16, though with some point updates in 2023 you could argue six years.

Google has messed around in the past by calling its current "three years of major OS updates and five years of security updates" plan "five years of updates," but this spec sheet very clearly says "seven years of OS, security, and feature drop updates." That would comfortably lead all major manufacturers, leaving only Google and Fairphone at the top of the charts.