Google’s new Longevity GRF program makes it easier for chipset vendors to support 7 years of Android updates. Here’s how.
With what stick or carrot? Once a device is released, the vendor has already made their money. Google already gave permission to ship those devices with their software.
Let’s say that Google demands contractually seven years of updates or they won’t license you to use the Play Store. Well, this would be a problem because most handset makers aren’t developing the chips, and those chips don’t come with update commitments that long. Really, your typical handset developer is integrating hardware and software from multiple sources, and they aren’t actually writing directly drivers for the SOC. This would be an impossible demand because Google is making demands of an integrator not necessarily the maintainer of the software that powers the very bottom layers of the phone. A handset maker would simply refuse and ship the phone without the Google applications because what other choice do they have? That maintenance burden is monumental.
Google would somehow have to transitively demand that your chipset developers are providing long-term updates when they have no direct incentive to do so. In fact, they would prefer the shortest possible update commitment so they can sell new chips. Handset vendors want those chips to be as cheap as possible. It’s a complicated situation.
