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While a new version of Android is always exciting, it’s also sad. As this generally means that a phone or two will be getting support dropped. And this time around, it’s the Google Pixel 5a.
The Google Pixel 5a is guaranteed to get updates until August 2024 – that’s Android and security updates. This could be when Android 15 launches, but Google also mentions in their blog post today that the developer preview is available for the Pixel 6 and later. That means the Pixel 5a is definitely not going to see Android 15 – officially, at least.
On that note, this will be the last major Android update that the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro will see actually, as their guaranteed Android updates end in October 2024. However, they will continue to get security updates until October 2026.
This marks the first Android update that will only be available for Pixels running on Tensor chipsets. Not that it matters much since this is going to be available for many other devices, not running Tensor, either.
Android 15 developer preview is available for Pixel 6 and later
If you have a Pixel 6 or later, and you want to run the developer preview on it, feel free to go ahead. But keep in mind that you do need to flash the entire image onto your phone. This means you’ll be losing all of your data, as your phone will be wiped. It also won’t be very stable at all, so we recommend holding off from updating your daily driver, at least until the betas start in April.
Google purposefully makes the developer previews tougher to install because they are pretty rocky and really only meant for developers. And not everyday people who might flash it onto their daily driver. As that can cause a lot of issues. But if you’re brave enough, here’s how you can flash the image.