Pixel 8 will get 7 years of Android OS, security, and Feature Drop updates

As we previously reported, Google is significantly increasing how long the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro will get software updates, promising seven years.

Starting with Tensor on the Pixel 6, Google began promising three years of Android OS version updates followed by an additional 24 months of security patches.

The Pixel 8 will get seven years of Android OS updates with security patches, as well as quarterly Feature Drops. Launching with Android 14, the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro will see updates to Android 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21 – assuming the naming doesn’t change before 2030.

While Android devices do get a lot of new features via app updates and Google Play services – such as unknown tracker alerts – significant UI and UX changes are brought by yearly OS updates.

Also notable today is the promise of continued Pixel Feature Drops that bring new app and OS features every three months. Some quarterly releases are quieter than others, but on average, there’s a big one every year.

This is a significant upgrade that leapfrogs Samsung’s four-year promise and brings Google into the ballpark of the iPhone’s software longevity.

You might not want to keep the same phone for seven years, but you now have the option to do so without sacrificing features or security. Google tells us that it wants to let people use their Pixel 8 as long as possible.

Google is able to do this because of updates to its support testing infrastructure, while the Tensor G3 also plays a role in making this possible.

Of course, it remains to be seen what performance looks like even after the three years we’re familiar with, while it will be interesting to see how or if this impacts Pixel resale value.

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