what just happened? The Android Mobile operating system has been far for many years. And, like many other types of software, the minimum device requirements for running the OS continue to increase. For Android 13, Google has increased the minimum requirements once again. Android 13 left a long beta and preview phase and began to land on a pixel cellphone in August. This is the news that is welcomed for consumers who always want to be in the latest version, but many telephone users in the country that are developing are likely to be affected by the requirements updated by the operating system.
Google writes that Android Go users, the low-power Android version built for entry-level smartphones, will require at least 2GB of RAM if they want to jump to Android 13. That is a 1GB increase compared to Android 11 and Android 12 (Go Edition) Requirements. Android 8 to 10, meanwhile, only requires 512MB. Although not mentioned in Google’s post, Mishaal Rahman and Google product expert Jason Bayton (via Ars Technica) wrote that the minimum storage requirements also increased, to 16GB.
This change cannot affect anyone in countries like the US, where you will struggle to find a cellphone that packs less than 2GB of RAM or 16GB of storage. But Google noted that more than 250 million people run Android Go, and with large OEMs like Jio, Samsung, Oppo, and Realme to build Android Go devices, there is a need for developers to build applications that work well on this handset.
Any cellphone that does not meet the new minimum requirements will not be able to increase to Android 13, while the new handset is launched with Android 13 must meet them to meet the requirements for the Play Store license. Ars notes that if Google decides to expand the minimum requirements throughout the Android ecosystem, these changes will include non-mobile devices such as smart TVs, which do not always have at least 16GB of storage. Chromecast with Google TV, for example, only has 8GB. That’s good news for users who cannot update their applications because of the limited amount of space.