Google Just Raised the Minimum Spec Requirements for Android 15

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Google started rolling out Android 15 back in October, adding a number of interesting and useful new features to compatible devices. Six months later, the company has decided to increase the minimum spec requirements manufacturers must meet in order for their devices to be eligible for the latest Google software. The good news? It's not that strict.

This week, Android Authority reported that to update to Android 15, Google is now requiring devices to have at least 32GB of storage. That isn't 32GB of free space; rather, the storage unit itself needs to be 32GB or larger. With Android 14 (and Android 13 before it) that requirement was 16GB, half the amount Android 15 now demands.

That's in large part because of GMS (Google Mobile Services). GMS is Google's suite of preinstalled apps and APIs, and includes things like Google Play Store and Google Play Services. While, theoretically, an Android manufacturer could still make a phone with less than 32GB, they would lose out on GMS, which would severely impact the experience users are used to.

Another key change is to minimum RAM requirements. As with Android 14, devices running Android 15 can have a little as 2GB of RAM. However, these devices need to use the "Go edition" of Android, which is the version of the OS optimized for devices with low RAM. The change this year is that devices with 3GB of RAM will also need to use Android Go edition as well. That might be beneficial from a performance point of view, since the software isn't as taxing on your device's limited hardware. But that will mean your phone, which may have ran the full version of Android 14, will be running a stripped-down version of Android 15, and may miss out on new features.

That said, your 3GB RAM device may not be running the full Android 14 version anyway. That's because manufacturers still have the opportunity to install Android Go edition for devices with low RAM. For Android 15, manufacturers making smartphones with 4GB of RAM can choose to run Android Go edition. With Android 14, that option was for devices with 3GB of RAM.

The new requirements are not particularly punishing. Sure, high-end smartphones come with specs that blow these minimums out of the water, but so do many mid-range and budget phones. You can buy last year's Motorola Moto G Power phone for just over $200, and it comes with 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM. This will likely apply to manufacturers who make very cheap devices: Hopefully, doubling the storage and upping the RAM doesn't increase the cost of these smartphones by too much.

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