There’s no hiding the fact that fragmentation in the Android ecosystem is a key issue that Google has been trying to address for some time now. The open-source nature of Android, skinned UIs, and the vast variety of mobile devices at different price points is a major reason for the slower (or no) updates. Google laid the groundwork to fix this, first with Project Treble and then Project Mainline, to deliver new features and security updates separate from OS updates. Today, Google has decided to further this cause by partnering with chipmaker Qualcomm.
Going forward, Qualcomm does not need to tweak the vendor implementation for each OEM and chipset to push out new updates. Instead, it can “support Android with the same vendor implementations on their SoCs for device launches as well as upgrades,” as per the blog post. This means phone makers can now roll out updates faster – and to a number of devices – without changing the vendor implementation (which will now be reused across multiple Qualcomm chipsets).
