As an Android user, I roll my eyes when Apple invents a feature Android users have enjoyed for years, and most of the tech world goes crazy for it. I prefer the Android platform but concede that Apple has one clear advantage: device software support. iPhones get at least 5 years of software updates. On the Android side, Google has consistently provided the fastest and longest-term support for its Pixel phones but that crown was taken away from Samsung when they announced a four-year support promise on many of its devices. Samsung even announced recently that their enterprise phones will get as much as five years of software support.
But it looks like Google is planning to take their crown back as we have a new report claiming that Google will provide at least 5 years of software updates to both Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. It comes from Jon Prosser from FrontPageTech who was the first one to reveal the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro to the world.
It’s unclear if this means the Pixel 6 will get 5 generations of OS updates, or 4 generations of OS updates plus an additional year of security updates, I guess we'll have to wait and see, but what’s clear is that Google is taking full advantage of the fact that it has full control over the silicon powering both devices. I've explained many times in the past that the reason Apple supports their devices for at least 5 years is due to the fact that they control the whole stack, from software to the hardware.
Qualcomm only supports their chipset for 3 to 4 years, which means Android OEM's can't support their devices longer than that. But with the new Whitechapel chipset, Google now also controls the whole stack, which theoretically means that they can provide software support to their devices as long as they can.
But just because they could doesn't mean they would as it's not good for business. Either way, it's good to see them committing to at least 5 years of updates similar to Apple.
With that said, we also have the specifications of both the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro. The Pixel 6 will have a 6.4" AMOLED with 4600mAh battery. A dual camera with 50MP main and 12MP Ultrawide while the Pixel 6 Pro will have a 6.71" display and its plastic OLED.
Now don't get confused here. This plastic OLED isn't made by LG which is known to have some issues in the past. Instead, both handsets will use Samsung displays. The Pixel 6 will have a rigid OLED to keep the costs down. Since the Pro will have curved displays they are using flexible OLEDs aka plastic OLEDs something Samsung and Apple use in their flagship phones.
Anyway, the Pro will have a triple camera array with 50MP main, 48MP telephoto, and 12MP ultrawide. The Pro is also expected to have a pericope zoom camera but for some reason, Prosser didn't mention anything about it. The phone will have a 5000mAh battery and it's the first phone from Google to have more than 8GB of RAM and over 128GB of internal storage.
Basically, Pixel phones will not fall behind the competition in the spec game this year which is a breath of fresh air for Pixel users. Also, Prosser mentions that Google will launch the handset sometime in October.
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