And I hope their secure element is good.
GrapheneOS is finally ready to break free from Pixels, and it may never look back
https://www.androidauthority.com/graphene-os-major-android-oem-partnership-3606853/
TL;DR
The makers of GrapheneOS have confirmed they are partnering with a major Android OEM to bring the privacy-focused Android fork to Snapdragon-powered smartphones.
The project has confirmed it’s bringing support for Pixel 10, but is unsure whether support will continue for Pixel 11.
GrapheneOS didn’t reveal the name of its new partner, but said that those devices will be priced in the same range as Pixels.
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Saw this coming. It would have been nice to see more transparency and less "everything is fine, we've got it covered" when I engaged with them about the recent Google updates just two months ago. The technical realities I was asking about clearly pointed here, and the dismissive responses didn't inspire confidence.
Either way, this kind of partnership was supposed to happen years ago before that deal fell through. Let's hope all those who recently bought Pixels specifically to run GrapheneOS will get the years of updates they expected before needing to migrate to this new device.
I stopped using GOS as a primary device months ago—it was a pain getting my data off, and Google's Play Integrity API is making it harder for apps to install on custom ROMs.
I still recommend them to most people for secondary devices. The privacy fundamentals are solid, but GrapheneOS has always relied on Pixel's superior hardware security (Titan M2, verified boot, etc.).
Finding an OEM partner with comparable hardware security has been a bottleneck all along. I'm genuinely interested to see what they come up with.
#IKITAO #Privacy #GrapheneOS #Pixel
Discussion
💯 Pixel is best in class for security—and GrapheneOS has been clear about that for years. IMO it's going to be hard to compete with Google money, experience, and resources while keeping the cost down to anything that resembles affordable for the average consumer. I guess we'll see.
I think theyve mentioned specifically that the current version of the OEMs phones theyre using is similarly priced to pixels.
They certainly seem to expect them to be, yes.
"GrapheneOS also hinted that the mysterious partner's devices will be 'priced similarly to Pixels' and available globally as part of the brand's standard lineup."
The question still remains: how will they compare build-wise and security-wise with the phones they have said were the only ones secure enough to meet their standards for years now?
I asked them a couple years back if finding another OEM manufacturer was still on the roadmap, and they said they had no plans after the last deal fell through. Then Google put the squeeze on custom ROMs with Android 16, and it looks like they found one.
I look forward to seeing what they release.
Better that than nothing at all.
This reminds me a bit of the certified #QubesOS hardware route.
By this I mean Qubes is running better for me on an older Thinkpad that a newer Qubes certified Starbook.
