Google has given a twist to the smartphone game with its new Pixel phones. The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro both come with Android 14 and both devices will support seven years of “OS, security, and Feature Drop updates”. In other words, you will be able to use them till 2030 before software support begins to falter. That sounds excellent on paper and the only other company which can compete with such software support is Apple. To be fair, Apple doesn’t officially talk about the number of years there will be software support but it’s usually six to seven years. There are several questions that need to be asked about the big promise Google is making.

The optimist in me

It’s great to have seven years of software support but nobody is asking if the move has contributed to the cost of the new Pixel phones. Let’s take Google’s word for it and that means you can rock the new Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro even when “Pixel 15” is released.First, this means customers can hope that many of the advanced features that get released seven years down the line will be supported on the Pixel 8 series. We are not sure if any company is thinking that far ahead as far as OS software features are concerned. From what we have seen on the iPhone, which gets regular updates, the top-of-the-line features that get released are not usually supported in the oldest of iPhones but all the important updates are.

Second, Pixel 8 phones are powered by Google Tensor G3 processor, which is the company’s own chip. On paper, this is a very powerful chip and is meant to do what Google may have planned for years. At the same time, on paper, this is not as nimble as Apple’s latest A17 Pro, which uses a 3nm fabrication process over Tensor’s 4nm. So we can only wait and find out.

Third, Google is clinging to AI features and these can make a difference to the Pixel phones. It’s a good way to market the phone and yes, AI features need to be seen differently when it comes to the processor power they can draw. A lot depends on how much of on-device processing is needed vis-à-vis Cloud. For example, the latest Video Boost feature is exclusive to Pixel 8 Pro because of “the cost of the Cloud infrastructure required to run Video Boost processing” (via Android Authority). Video Boost is in the Cloud, so it has nothing to do with the phone’s capabilities.

The pessimist in me

Google is known to discontinue projects. Remember Stadia, Google Hangouts, Pixel Pass, Google Domains, Google Podcasts (ending in 2024)… there is a Wikipedia page dedicated to this topic. By committing to seven years of software upgrades, Google is saying that Pixel phones will be around for a long time. I’d love to see seven years of support because it lends value to a product. It means you don’t have to update phones every two-three years.

Second, where does that leave Samsung, Nothing, Oppo, Xiaomi and OnePlus? An important element when it comes to software support is the chipmaker. Samsung does have Exynos but it doesn’t use it in every phone.

I would love to see a Pixel running for seven years but will Google be able to break the services-in-the-graveyard perception? Google closed down Stadia which was introduced with a great marketing backup. It was done because the money coming from the service is small change when it comes to the big picture. If Apple promises 10 years of support for an iPhone, I can trust that because much of the company’s business has to do with the iPhone. For Google, much of the business is online search.