For those who care about software upgrades, Android phones have long been sold with two to three years of software support at best. This situation left a lot of devices running an out-of-date system, with the consequence of exposing users to security issues and premature obsolescence.

This presentation takes the case of the Google Pixel 4a (and a couple of other old Pixel phones) to discuss the issue and to show how it has been updated from Android 13 to Android 16 successfully, using Evolution X custom ROM project, thus extending the device lifetime beyond what was commercially offered by the manufacturer.