Anyone who’s peered behind the scenes at Tensor’s development issues might be pretty down on Google’s custom chipset project, but going its own way has scored the Pixel series a few notable wins. Solid photography and bleeding-edge AI smarts are the regular headliners, but news that Google is adding two more years of support to the Pixel 6, Pixel 7, and Pixel Fold might just be Tensor’s biggest win yet.
The Pixel 6 launched with Android 12 and was scheduled for three years of OS updates, which would have made this year’s Android 15 upgrade the last major update outside of security patches. Likewise, the Pixel 7 was scheduled to reach the end of its OS upgrades next year, but these models will now see Android 17 and 18, respectively. That’s quite the boon for consumers who had perhaps been pondering a new model soon, despite the fact that these phones still rock hardware that’ll remain capable for another few years.