HMD CEO explains why Nokia phones won’t support Project Treble
One of the most contentious facts of life for Android users is that unless you’re sporting the newest Pixel phone from Google, you’re not likely to see OS updates in a timely manner. Major manufacturers like Samsung, LG, Xiaomi, and Lenovo get around to updating their devices when they feel like it, which leaves a sour experience for the end user.
Google attempted to address this with the announcement of Project Treble, a new initiative that separates the core Android OS framework from vendor customization so that OS-level updates can be pushed through to the end user without requiring the current level of testing from manufacturers. That means OEM updates should come faster, but could also lengthen the usual 2-year cutoff for OS level updates.
Someone reached out to the HMD CEO Juho Sarvikas to ask why current Nokia phones won’t be getting support for this initiative when other manufacturers are planning on supporting it. Juho replied by stating that the new system requires two separate partitions to contain the Android OS and the vendor interface, but current devices don’t have this enabled. Partitioning cannot be done in an over the air update either, so HMD has opted not to support Project Treble with their current generation of phones.
Perhaps we’ll see support from the company in the future when devices are built with Project Treble support in mind.