If you’ve been following the launch of the Google Pixel 7 series, there’s been a lot going on. kernel sources just dropped for both devices, there’s a display issue that seems to drain battery life, and revisions are slowly trickling out. As people get their hands on the devices, users start testing them and digging under the hood. As a result, the Google Pixel 7 series appears to be the first set of Android smartphones to support only 64-bit apps.
I just asked someone with a Pixel 7 Pro to confirm (H/T @AdamConwayIE) and it does indeed appear that the Pixel 7 series ships with a 64-bit only version of Android 13!
This means that 32-bit apps like Flappy Bird cannot be installed.
— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) October 13, 2022
Rahman later corrected himself to say that it is a 64-bit Zygote, but a 32-bit and 64-bit userspace, not a 64-bit-only version of Android 13 as initially reported. This certainly lends credence to the claim that the Google Pixel tablet may feature only a 64-bit version of Android 13.
This means that for any application that does not have 64-bit libraries, you will not be able to install them. This includes older versions of apps like Jetpack Joyride and even completely defunct older apps like Flappy Bird. It’s not like Tensor G2 doesn’t support it either – all three of its different cores support AArch32 execution. Google could have enabled 32-bit support like they have done in their previous smartphones.
Listing the Android Binary Interfaces (ABIs) shows that nothing is present for “armeabi-v7a” or “armeabi”. “arm64-v8a” support is listed, but according to the Android documentation, it only supports the AArch64 instruction set.
[ro.product.cpu.abi]: [arm64-v8a]\n[ro.product.cpu.abilist]: [arm64-v8a]\n[ro.product.cpu.abilist32]: []\n[ro.product.cpu.abilist64]: [arm64-v8a]\n[ro.vendor.product.cpu.abilist]: [arm64-v8a]\n[ro.vendor.product.cpu.abilist32]: []\n[ro.vendor.product.cpu.abilist64]: [arm64-v8a]
What does this mean and does it have any benefits? Most of the benefits will not really be visible to consumers, as these improvements are mainly in increased security, better performance, and reduced processing cost thanks to the lack of additional ABIs. All apps in the Google Play Store have had to have 64-bit support since August 2019, and last year the company stopped serving 32-bit apps that don’t have any 64-bit support.
For anyone who owns a Pixel 7 series device, there is nothing to worry about. You’ll be hard-pressed to find apps that don’t have 64-bit libraries, and so far Flappy Bird seems to be the standout. If you find more, let us know in the comments!