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After three years, Google ends Pixel 3 support with February patch

Photos of the Pixel 3.

Enlarge / The Pixel 3 XL and -pixel 3. (credit: Ron Amadeo)

The February Android security patch is live, marking both the first on-time patch for the particular Pixel 6 and the last plot ever for the Pixel 3.

The Pixel a few launched in October 2018 to lukewarm reviews , thanks to a giant camera notch on the XL model and a worrying dearth of RAM across the lineup. Google only offers three years of major OS updates (even on the Cote 6), so the phone’s last regular update was the Android 12 launch in October 2021. Pushing one of the biggest Android launches ever as typically the final update is a little scary (there are bound in order to be some bugs), so Google promised one last wrap-up up-date before it said goodbye to be able to the Pixel 3. The device ended up with two more updates: one in January for you to patch that wild 911 bug and this final update. Google hasn’t posted any release notes for the last Nullement 3 update, but the Feb update should cover all this security issues up to today, and from now on, you’re out associated with date.

The Position 6’s update plan is promoted by Google as “five years of Android security updates, ” but that still includes only three years of major Android version updates. The Pixel 6 will be obsolete in October 2024, but it will continue to get security updates until October 2026. We’ve long seen Android companies blame SoC vendors for the short support times compared to the iPhone’s six years of updates, yet with the Google Tensor, Search engines is its own SoC vendor now, so it could assistance the Pixel 6 for longer if it wanted.

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