With the announcement of the Snapdragon 865 SoC processor back in December came the news by Qualcomm that Android OEMs will be able to update the GPU drivers through compatible app(s) on the Google Store. Earlier these particular updates only came bundled with the firmware updates provided by the phone manufacturers. Qualcomm is going to bring this unique feature for the Snapdragon 865 and Snapdragon 765 processor devices for the time being.
Now Xiaomi is going to be the first-ever manufacturer to take advantage of this facility as they have updated an app called “GPU Updater” on the app store in China. This update will have performance improvements for games like Fortnite, Honkai Impact 3rd, and PUBG.
This app with package code “com.xiaomi.ugd,” will update the Adreno 650 GPU on Snapdragon 865 SoC powered devices including Xiaomi Mi 10, Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro, and Redmi K30 Pro. This will also contain the updates for OpenGL ES and Vulkan for graphics rendering improvements. XDA Developers managed to get their hands on the APK file for the GPU Driver Updater and driver list contains all the libraries needed for the update.
They learned that OEMs will be able to enable the updatable GPU drivers for their devices by getting the signed pre-release driver APK form Qualcomm and then do the needed changes to make it compatible for the particular devices. It still remains unclear as to why Qualcomm is not offering the update directly and wants OEMs to implement updateable GPU drivers for Snapdragon 865 as well as Snapdragon 765 devices.
