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Google has bumped up the minimum hardware requirements for Android 13 devices. Manufacturers must equip their Android smartphones and tablets with at least 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage to preload Google Mobile Services (GMS). Devices not meeting these requirements will not support Android 13 and newer with GMS.
This is a major jump from a minimum of 512MB RAM that Google mandated a couple of years back to support GMS on Android devices. It came following the launch of Android 11 in the second half of 2020. At that time, the company also announced that devices shipping with less than 2GB of RAM and running Android 10 or Android 11 out of the box must use the Android Go edition. Now, it is updating the minimum RAM and storage configurations for new Android Go devices (via).
If a manufacturer wants to offer GMS, which includes apps and services such as Google Play Store, Google Chrome, YouTube, Google Maps, and Google Drive, on their new Android 13 Go edition device, they must meet these hardware requirements. Else they will have to ship the device with Android 12. It will never get the Android 13 update. By the look of it, Google is giving manufacturers the freedom to choose between the full-featured Android and Android Go editions as long as they meet the requirements.
Existing Android and Android Go devices that boast at least 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage will support Android 13 with GMS if eligible for the update. But the Go edition devices that don’t feature these minimum specs will end their life on Android 12. That said, these entry-level smartphones and tablets don’t get many software updates or ship with the latest Android versions. So this change shouldn’t be a major concern for any. But a few years later, Android products with less than 2GB RAM and 16GB storage should cease to exist.
Android 13 has yet to roll out to devices from other brands
Google released Android 13 on AOSP (Android Open Source Project) last month. The company also rolled out the new Android version to its Pixel smartphones. But other OEMs such as Samsung are still beta testing the big update. They are expected to begin seeding Android 13 to their eligible devices in the coming weeks. Samsung will likely begin the update with the Galaxy S22 series in mid-October if rumors are anything to go by. We will keep an eye on these developments and will let you know accordingly.