It looks like the Pixel 4a will just miss Android 14

While smartphone nerds are digging into Android 14 DP1, Pixel 4a owners are sadly left out of the fun.

As spotted by Android Police, Google’s excellent Pixel 4a likely won’t make the jump to Android 14 because of Google’s lame update policy. This time around, however, it stings a little more — the Pixel 4a turns three years old in August, meaning it will just miss eligibility for Android 14.

Google has offered three years of OS upgrades for a while now (starting with the Pixel 6, it tacks on five years of security patches too). Unfortunately, this update policy means the Pixel 4a  will miss the Android 14 update. Google’s Android 14 timeline points to an August or September release for the new OS. Moreover, Android 14 DP1 isn’t available on the Pixel 4a.

What’s worse is there’s nothing actually preventing the Pixel 4a from running Android 14. Sure, it’s not the most powerful smartphone, thanks to its Snapdragon 730G chipset, but we also know these decisions aren’t based on a phone’s capability. Otherwise, the Pixel 4 and 4 XL — which are more powerful than the 4a — wouldn’t have just got their last patch.

Anyway, Google should really improve it’s update policies to at least be in line with other Android manufacturers, like Samsung (who’d have thought Samsung would be the model for Android updates?).

As for Pixel 4a owners, if you don’t want to get a new phone, you may want to start learning how to flash ROMs to squeeze more life out of your device.

Source: Android Police