Last week, we said that Android 7.0 Nougat won’t be coming to some Snapdragon 800 and S801 devices. That’s bad news for those who own phones and tablets running such chipsets because that means they won’t be able to get a bite off the chunky Nougat. We’ve listed a few Samsung, Sony, LG, Motorola, ZTE, and OnePlus smartphones to be among those unlucky devices based on their specs but we want to know the truth further.
Qualcomm really didn’t make a formal announcement but since Nougat has minimum specs requirement, some old models may not be eligible for the mobile OS update. Android 7.0 requires higher specs, the same way not a lot of devices are enjoying Lollipop or Marshmallow. But then again, there will always be ways around it. OEMs actually always have the last say if they will release the update or not.
Android Authority reached out to Qualcomm about the matter and the latter shared this statement:
“Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. works closely with our OEM customers to implement and support varying versions of the Android OS across our Snapdragon chipsets. The length of time a chipset is supported and the upgradable OS versions available to consumers are subject to the OEM product lifecycle. We recommend you contact your device manufacturer or carrier for information on support for Android 7.0 Nougat.”
It’s not Qualcomm but the OEMs who may have decided that Snapdragon 800 and S801 devices are already old. However, there is still the idea that even if these OEMs want to release updates, they may not be able to pass the Google CTS (Compatibility Test Suite).
You see, all OEMs must conform to the Android Compatibility Definition Document. We can’t say what’s in the Nougat that “doesn’t conform” to Google standards or even just the CDD and CTS for Android 7. We just don’t know what that is. We’ll have to ask the Android team about this issue so questions will be answered once and for all.
VIA: Android Authority
Qualcomm. You best be releasing Vulkan drivers.
yes 😀 to me, the vulkan API is the best thing about android 7.0
All OEMs ? Not even a single one has requested to be update its drivers?
Also:
“We can’t say what’s in the Nougat that “doesn’t conform” to Google standards”
– it might have to do with performance on encrypted storage, but I remember it has a fallback, so that if the OEM sees that it ruins the performance, it can be optional, instead of being enabled by default.