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Your older Chromebook might not get Android P
- Comments in the Chromium Gerrit point to older Chromebooks not getting Android P.
- Those Chromebooks feature kernel 3.14 or older and include 2015’s Google Chromebook Pixel.
According to comments on a Chromium Code review that XDA Developers spotted, 2015’s Google Chromebook Pixel or any similarly older Chrome OS device will not get Android P.
Keep in mind that this is not Android P support in the sense that Chromebooks will run a full version of Android. Rather, Android P would be used as the underpinnings for when you download apps from the Play Store, for example.
Based on the comments, any Chromebook that runs kernel 3.14 or older will not get Android P. To check your machine’s kernel version, type chrome://system in the URL bar. Press the Enter key, then press CTRL + F to search for uname.
This does not mean that your Chromebook will no longer receive updates. Many of these pre-3.18 Chromebooks still fall in the five-year window for updates, so your device would remain secure for the foreseeable future.
Also, we do not know yet what, if any, impact there would be on the Android experience due to a lack of Android P support.
The comments on the Chromium Gerrit should certainly be taken with a grain of salt. If true, this would go against the precedent of older devices receiving updated kernels.
At the end of the day, this puts device owners at an awkward crossroad. Do they upgrade their still-capable machines for the sake of Android P, or do they hold onto their machines and live without Android P?