Google’s premier devices, the Pixel and Pixel XL have been the poster-boys of what every Android phone must be like. They are Google’s high-priority smartphones, and will continue to be so for another six months till the gen-next Pixel smartphones come out. Nexus smartphones used to be the same till recent years. The latest phones get the latest updates. The Google Pixel and Nexus smartphones are now getting the May 2017 Android Security Patch.
This is an important update as it is the first major update following the release of Android 7.1.2 Nougat OS. With every new OS update come a number of new bugs and with new bugs, come bug fixes. The Android 7.1.2 Nougat OS too, had bugs of its own, and before most of them were noticed, Google seems to fix them up with the May 2017 Android Security Patch.
The update has begun rolling out for the Google Pixel and Nexus smartphone users. It comes as an OTA update but factory images are also made available. The update is designed for two types of users - Google smartphone users and non-Google smartphone users. Google smartphone users get 96 fixes with the May 2017 Android Security Patch, while non-Google phones would get just 20. However, manufacturers will include their specific bug fixes as and when they roll out this update.
The May 2017 Android Security Patch update fixes a number of bugs including critical ones that allow remote exploitation of phones. The update was in the news a couple of weeks ago as some Google Pixel XL users had accidentally begun getting a premature build of this update. However, the final update is now here and your phones are now more secure than ever before.
Google recently announced end of life support for the Google Pixel and Pixel XL phones. They stated that the phones would get an OS Update till October of next year, and the security patches will keep rolling out till October 2019. However, while these dates are far away, do update your phone to the May 2017 Android Security Patch.
