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Pixel

Ane of the master selling points for Google'due south Pixel phones is that they get monthly security updates and new Android versions for three years. The original Pixel phones launched in 2016, and that means they've hit their end of life. Google released new monthly patches for its phones yesterday, and indeed, the 2016 Pixels were left out. Even so, Google will offer owners of those devices one final OTA every bit a bye.

The launch of the Pixel and Pixel XL in 2016 marked a major shift for Google's phone strategy. In the past, it focused on promoting new versions of Android with a powerful merely depression-toll piece of "Nexus"  hardware manufactured by an established smartphone OEM. Over the years, it partnered with HTC, Samsung, LG, Asus, Motorola, and Huawei to brand Nexus devices. The 2016 Pixels might have been manufactured by HTC, but you'd never know from looking at them. These were the first truly Google-branded smartphones.

When it launched the original Pixels, Google simply promised two years of major Bone updates. More recent phones are guaranteed 3 years of support for the Bone version and security updates. So, Google has already gone higher up and beyond past offering an update to Android x on the 2016 Pixels. However, the monthly updates are arguably more than important as they keep devices safety from new online threats that cannot exist patched in other means.

pixel back

Some owners of the original Pixel have expressed annoyance that Google would update the devices to the new Os then immediately end support. After all, any major Os update is bound to take some bugs. Well, there'due south still some hope that Google will leave these devices in a proficient place. The company will push 1 more than update to the phones in December, hopefully giving it a run a risk to clean up the rough edges in Android 10. After that, Google promises no farther update back up. That's a bummer, but the Pixels have already gotten much more attending than other Android phones.

Going frontward, users will exist on their ain if the want to stick with their aging smartphones. Google would probably prefer anybody upgraded to new devices, but the non-Verizon Pixels have unlockable bootloaders. You lot tin choose to flash custom software line Lineage Os on the 2016 Pixels to eke a little more than life out of them.

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