It appears that Google is planning to set a standard to what devices are allowed to run its Android 11 or Android Go operating systems. According to a leaked copy of the company’s Device Configuration Guide for Android 11, all future devices must be equipped with more than 2GB of RAM to have the OS installed. Those that do not meet the requirement are required to launch with Android Go instead.
The leak was reported by XDA, who also detailed other information that was included in the document. They added that Google is expected to enforce this new requirement for upcoming Android-powered devices in Q4 2020 when the OS is publicly rolled out.
As mentioned earlier, future devices that are equipped with 2GB of RAM or less must launch with the lightweight Android Go version instead. This is to ensure that users will not be greeted with a compromised experience due to the hardware limitations. Additionally, the document also noted that devices with only 512MB of RAM will no longer qualify to preload Google Mobile Services.
Android Go was launched by Google in 2017 as a lite version of its popular Android open-source operating system for mobile devices. Also included are Go variants of the system’s native applications such as GMail, Maps, Youtube and others, which maintain the same functionality but consume less hardware resources.
(Source: XDA)
