GrapheneOS is finally ready to break free from Pixels, and it may never look back
GrapheneOS is finally ready to break free from Pixels, and it may never look back
Doesn't seem "it's finally ready" when they didn't name the name.
Amateur marketing speak for "we're considering bringing it to other hardware"?
Break free, implying they won't support Pixels anymore (is how I interpreted it at first anyway), but they are simply expanding support for more devices. 👍
The article suggests that they have not decided whether to support new models of Pixel but will support current models until EOL
So so far only news of expansion. 👍
For existing Pixel users, GrapheneOS plans to maintain support for current devices until their end-of-life dates. The team is working on adding Pixel 10 support, though the timeline remains unclear. Whether they’ll support Pixel 11 and beyond hasn’t been decided yet.
Thanks for the relevant quote 👍
It'd be funny to me if Pixel sales tanked a significant amount and it turns out that people only used their phones for Graphene.
Me personally, I don't like Pixel phones. But I've owned every single one of them through 9 Pro.
I look forward to a Graphene future.
Typing on a pixel at the moment. I never get tired of the irony that privacy enthusiats uses google made phones of all devices out there
I never would have bought a Pixel if it weren’t for GrapheneOS. It was literally the only selling point for me.
I'm glad this is getting some traction now, but this is some poor reporting. This is one site reporting what another site saw, which was just GrapheneOS restating things they've been saying since the summer, with no new info. I read both this article and the one they link to as their source and learned nothing I haven't already known for months just from casually checking on GrapheneOS socials.
I wish fairphone could be the thing, but unfortunately - doesn't seem to be the case https://piunikaweb.com/2025/10/13/grapheneos-ending-pixel-exclusivity-new-oem/
I'll speculate.
My money's on Asus. Asus is a bit more mainstream than Nothing but still enough of an underdog that I think they should see the value in a partnership. They already target an enthusiast niche with the ROG line.
The Nothing Phone 3 uses an SD 8s Gen 4, which is not Qualcomm's "flagship" SOC, and it would be stretching the definition of "major" OEM, but who knows? This seems the most likely after Asus.
Moto's only flagship Snapdragon phone is the Razr Ultra, which I guess is possible. It'd be weird, but hey, I'd buy one.
OnePlus has been moving in the opposite direction for years now, locking things down more and more. I think they're too big for their britches at this point.
Sony's flagships are crazy expensive, well beyond the price of Pixels. They also don't cover the US market, though I'm not sure how important that is to the Graphene devs.
HMD doesn't make any phones with flagship SOCs. I think their best is the Skyline, with a 7s gen 2, Qualcomm's fourth-tier SOC line (the "s" stands for shitty).
Fairphone doesn't use flagship Snapdragons and GOS has had some pretty nasty things to say about them in the past.
Samsung is a pipe dream. They'd have no motivation. The entire GOS user base would be a rounding error to them.
On a global scale, Xiaomi would be a huge get. Not sure I see any of the Chinese OEMs focusing on this though.
Lenovo and Blackberry...might still exist? I think?
Honestly can't imagine any chinese manufacturer partnering with a free and open Android OS. Even though it would be cool, since their phones usually have decent hardware
Asus would be nice, I've liked most of the zenphones but either didn't support my carrier/bands or something like that or they stopped allowing bootloader unlocking which is why I didn't think they'd be on the list but this would be a great way to jump back in as an option for enthusiasts.
Also would love for it to be RAZR, I really want one but also want GrapheneOS but hesitant to buy a pixel.
It's the same Asus that doesn't allow bootloader unlock anymore for "stability concerns"?
What did they say about Fairphone? As far as I know, Fairphone doesn't provide patches as frequently as it should. I mean, thats not great, but it's not "nasty."
Lenovo bought Motorola like a decade ago.
Fairphone doesn't have the security hardware.
I would love to put Graphene on a Xiaomi device, even more, I'd love to put them on Huawei phones, but afaik those ones don't have an unlocked bootloader.
I pray that my Pixel 9 is my last Pixel.
That may be a monkey's paw wish.
He'll use that phone for the next 20 years as it's the last one on the planet with an unlocked bootloader
Could Fairphone count as a "Major" Android OEM ?
They do use snapdragon chips, are priced roughly the same as the pixels, and might align the most with a project like Graphene and its values ?
One can dream…
I hope its blackberry, id love to see them re-enter the market, and i'd love an excuse to buy one.
that would be wonderful
I just want a smartphone with a physical keyboard again. That would be awesome!
A new modern and secure BlackBerry with a physical keyboard would be absolutely incredible
Fuck! I brought a pixel just for GrapheneOS 2 months ago. Hoping they would continue the support.
They haven't named the company yet or shown prototypes, so this is probably a couple years away. I'm on Pixel 8 right now, and I'll probably buy the latest Pixel that can still run Graphene next time I get a new phone.
Honesty I would just wait it out if I were you. I really regret getting the pixel 9 (since my last phone broke).
There is nothing new in the pixel 10 the only area that desperately needed improvement was the battery which is just as bad if not worse than the 9 and the modem still sucks. It is not fully bad but because of low reception it fights harder to get signal and therefore burns away the battery even faster.
Think I saw them respond that they were aiming for last half of 2026 to 2027 for the new phones.
They will most definitely continue the support for existing Pixel models.
It's okay just keep using it with GrapheneOS as you need to as support will continue for pixels.
For my brokes ass I'm just going to keep buying secondhand last-gen pixels, but its good for the overall market to get an expansion in grapheneOS support.
More likely a shift rather than expansion. Graphene said they don't yet know if they'll support Pixels beyond 10. Looks like they may focus on the new OEM and drop Pixels.
Would love to see oneplus support.
I guess i know what my next year's phone is gonna be.
Please let it be Nothing or OnePlus 🙏
This needs to happen so bad. Very excited for the future of mobile computing. We are so back.
PLEASE
BUT IF THEY KEEP JINXING IT!!!!?
i hope grapheneos keeps supporting pixels, if possible. i liked pixels way before I discovered grapheneos due to the cameras that I still think are on top in the android world, and when I became privacy conscious it was a perfect add on to an already nice phone imo.
Good camera was just a byproduct if better post processing on Google. It was true maybe 5-6 years ago that pixels had too of the line camera. But these days, even Motorola can manage a comparable camera to pixel.
Let's congrats Graphene team for supporting the Google hardware for so long, they surely helped Google profit a lot given people buying Pixel just to use Graphene.
They supported Google because it was the only device with the hardware security features they needed
I hope they announce what that new phone is before my Pixel 6 goes EOL
I'm on a P6, living life on Lineage and loving it, fwiw 🙂
Finally escaping from Tensor jail. Hopefully the new phone has a decent design.
As long as it isn't a Chinese OEM. Most likely going to be Sony or Nothing?
Nothing is pretty much a Chinese OEM...
The phone is fully designed, engineered, tested, built, and firmware written in China... Pei just has his marketing office in the UK so he can claim it as a UK company. Maybe they give some aesthetic design direction in the UK too. Pei has a history of lying to make his companies seem like something they aren't.
(Though they did have a couple of software job postings up recently, so maybe they are trying to slowly change that and do some of the software in the UK)
Nothing isn't a major oem
I'm hyped! Get the OS on a foldable on-par with the Z Fold 7 (in terms of thinness, camera quality, battery life, and UI featureset), and I'm sold. I am so done with Google and Samsung's bullshit. If I wanted an iPhone, I would have bought an iPhone. I'm tired of them copying Apple and somehow managing to be even worse at it. I don't want to be forced to use use either of their shitty app stores.
FWIW, I'm aware that I'm going to be waiting for awhile.
Lfg
I hope they add supports for more foldables!
I never understood why a privacy and security focused project would use Google hardware.
Because only Google provided everything needed to actually fully support the hardware it runs on. Besides, hardware is just the skeleton, as long as you exchange the brains inside, you are fine. Like a bomb shell but empty inside.
yes please!
Cool! Gonna wait for a Graphene Phone now!
Niiiiice
Imagine, they announce a Chinese phone brand, like Huawei or Xiaomi. Although that Xiaomi 17 Pro Max... damn.
I think we can safely say it's probably not Samsung or Motorola.
I hope they also enhance their social media strategy, as their unprofessional and aggressive way of communication makes me question their trustworthiness more than I want, as I think the project is awesome.
I'm out of the loop. Any examples of this?
They shit on other projects all the time (frequently unprovoked, sometimes without the original conversation having anything to do about security). They also often reply with multiple posts with multiple paragraphs each when shitting on other projects. It shouldn't take very long to find an example if you trawl through their replies on Twitter, Bluesky, or Mastodon.
They have good points, but they're often either not relevant to the conversation or worded in such a way that it sounds like every project other than GrapheneOS is dogshit.
They also sometimes go on (IMO) paranoid rants about XYZ project systematically trying to destroy them or whatever.
If you want a direct example you can check their replies on Mastodon to about every topic.
Yep. They need an actual comms professional. I love GOS and am forever grateful to the team but having a bunch of non-nuero-typical devs speaking for them is not doing them any favours.
Seriously. I love GOS and can't imagine using a phone without it at this point, but their social media is a shitshow and a half.
For me, it would be the opposite. Their "unprofessional" and aggressive way of communications makes me think they are doing it for convictions rather then personal benefits. The person that's helping you doesn't need to be overly polite. The person trying to get something out of you does.
I got heavily attacked for basically nothing like a year ago, which made me feel really bad and I still think about it frequently. Whoever treats people like this does not gain a lot of trust from me. Also such impulsiveness should not be involved in such a project. No one needs to be overly polite but also not that hostile against people and like 90% of other projects out there.