If you are waiting for the latest Android 7.0 update to your device, then this could be a bad news for you. Some report claims that Snapdragon 800 or 801 based Android smartphones will lack support for the Android 7.0 Nougat and won’t receive the update.
Android 7.0 Nougat made its official debut to supported devices earlier this week and it is quite clear that not all phones can be updated to this major OS version. When it comes to major software upgrades, it’s not only the device manufacturer or mobile carrier provider is responsible to release the update. There are lots of criteria that needs to be meet before the update being prepared for a device.
Why Snapdragon 800/801 based Android smartphone lack support to Android Nougat Update?
Android Nougat introduces the new Vulken API which brings better gaming performances to smartphones running the Nougat platform. Vulken API is a high-performance 3D graphics standard which is not compatible with Snapdragon 800 and 801 processors. And, according to the HTC-focused mobile developer LlabTooFer, Qualcomm will not release graphics drivers for the Snapdragon 800/801 CPUs. So the devices running on these processors won’t support Nougat’s Vulken API integration.
LlabTooFer quotes in the tweet “Qualcomm will not release graphics drivers for 800/801 CPUs.So HTC One M8 and other devices based on this CPU won’t get official Android 7.0”
If so, then devices not getting Android 7.0 update are
If this information indeed turns out to be true, many old devices which are powerful enough to run latest Android software but won’t taste the latest Nougat update. Other than the HTC One M8 which is mentioned in the tweet, there’s a long list of devices that are powered by these two CPUs and won’t be updated to Android Nougat. The other flagships are Nexus 5, LG G2, LG G3, Samsung Galaxy S5, Galaxy Note 3, Xperia Z3, Xperia Z3 Compact, ZTE Axon, OnePlus X and even the second generation Moto X. All the devices are around three years old and already been dropped by their OEMs for any further update except ZTE Axon and OnePlus X. Both ZTE Axon and OnePlus X were released last year but, because they are powered by Snapdragon 801 processor so won’t be upgraded to Nougat.
