Android 13 has been officially available for some time, but the list of compatible smartphones is still very limited. Here she is.
When you update your smartphone to Android 13, you will see new features and other changes, such as Material You for third-party app icons, the ability to turn off app notifications immediately after installing them, and scheduling dark mode for bedtime, etc. Of course, to take advantage of all this, you must be able to install Android 13, and unfortunately, not all smartphones are compatible. Some will never get it.
Why does it take so long for some phones to get Android 13?
Android is a unique OS, it is developed by Google, including its updates, but the Google version is not the only one in circulation. As soon as Google finalizes a version of Android, smartphone manufacturers create their own builds based on that version of Google, these are called overlays. For example, Samsung is developing One UI, OnePlus OxygensOS, Asus ZenUi, etc.
These overlays modify Android to be compatible with certain devices and ecosystems, but they are all based on the same base version of Android. OneUI 5.0 and OxygenOS 13, for example, are variants of Android 13, and both have new Android 13 features.
While Google has made efforts in recent years to improve Android adoption by manufacturers, the process is still agonizingly long. The surest way to get the latest version of Android as soon as it’s available is to buy a Google Pixel smartphone.
Google Pixel compatible with Android 13
Google offers a list of compatible pixels. Mountain View is no longer supporting the Pixel 3 and 3a, which means they will never get the rights to Android 13. However, those with a newer device will be able to take advantage of this:
- Pixel 4
- Pixel 4XL
- Pixel 4a
- Pixel 4a 5G
- Pixel 5
- Pixel 5a 5G
- Pixel 6
- Pixel 6 Pro
- Pixel 6a
Samsung Galaxy running Android 13 (OneUI 5.0)
Right after Google in terms of adoption comes Samsung. The South Korean giant is releasing new versions of Android quite quickly. Samsung is also prioritizing its new smartphones for this, but a wide range of Galaxy is coming up to them today.
This month, Samsung released OneUI 5.0 for most of its latest devices:
- Galaxy S22
- Galaxy S22+
- Galaxy S22 Ultra
- Galaxy S21
- Galaxy S21+
- Galaxy S21 Ultra
- Galaxy Note 20
- Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
- Galaxy S20
- Galaxy S20+
- Galaxy S20 Ultra
There’s also a long list of Galaxys that will soon be eligible. The Galaxy Z Flip and Z Fold are due out later this month, and many Galaxy A and Galaxy M will receive the update between December and April 2023.
Vivo iQOO (original Ocean OS)
Vivo already has two devices running Android 13, or rather Origin OS Ocean from this manufacturer:
- Vivo iQOO 11
- Vivo iQOO Neo7
That’s all for now)
Unfortunately, this is where the list of smartphones compatible with Android 13 ends. As stated earlier, it takes time for manufacturers to accept new versions, so the list is short but growing. Samsung has just started, OnePlus is currently testing OxygenOS 13 in beta.
Google has also confirmed that other Android OEMs are working on bringing Android 13 to their devices. Among them are Asus, HMD (Nokia), Motorola, Oppo, Realme, Sharp, Sony, Tecno, vivo and Xiaomi.