Andy what I quoted specifically mentioned the 3 and 3 XL however the situation is the same across all 3rd Gen devices.
Andy I do not know if you promoted the 3a in the day as you are currently promoting the 6a?
No we didn't as all Pixel devices up until the 6th Gen devices all received the same support window. The 6th Gen and all Google Tensor powered devices will receive a minimum of 5 years support and so moving people from limited support devices for longer term ones makes sense for the efficiency of the project and distribution of development resources.
Andy It would be such a pity to consign this fantastic combination of hardware, firmware – with the ultra reliable and secure Graphene-OS – to the ever growing mountain of e-waste.
The firmware is the proprietary element that MUST be supplied by the hardware OEMs to be able to maintain support. The decision to stop supporting these devices is not in GrapheneOS hands, nor even Googles but the chipset manufacturers, ie Qualcomm. This is the very reason Google took control of using their own silicon the same way Apple did to be able to provide better longevity and reduce e-waste in parallel with your concerns and in line with their values etc.
Andy It would be great to match or take the obvious sales pitch of exceeding Apple’s 8 year support – having just released a major security update for their old products.
Same as above Apple offer the 8 year support window as they are the chipset OEM for their own silicon be it the A chips in iOS devices or M chips in their laptop/desktop options. Google will likely gradually move in line and offer parity with their Tensor chips however we may likely need to wait until the 8th Gen Pixels and the generation of Tensor that may offer for this. Any device older than 6th Gen will NOT nor is it POSSIBLE for Google/GrapheneOS to support beyond this without Qualcomm making the firmware available.
Andy I was so pleased today that my phone started to download an update
To quote the lead developer:
Putting out another 3rd gen extended support release mostly to ship the final set of 3a / 3a XL changes they released not really a security update.
The update is 12.1 there is no difference regards About Phone listing Android 12 as both 12 and 12.1 OS versions are.