Google says Android Open Source Project not being ‘discontinued’ amidst Pixel change impacting custom ROMs

With the launch of Android 16 earlier this week, Google did not release the Pixel hardware repos and device trees that are particularly important for custom ROM developers. This led to speculation by some that “AOSP is being discontinued.” Google has denied that, but the Pixel change does look to be intentional.

On Tuesday, Google released Android 16’s source code to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). However, the Pixel device trees and other code used to adapt the AOSP release to specific (Made by) Google hardware was not released in a big change from precedent. 

Without the Pixel hardware repos (which include the device trees, driver binaries, and more), custom Android ROMs will have a hard time developing their OS updates. This might also have implications for security (vulnerability) researchers.

This led some in the community to speculate that AOSP is being discontinued. Android VP and GM Seang Chau on Wednesday evening posted that broadly “AOSP is NOT going away.” More directly to developers, Google has said it will remain “committed to AOSP updates.”

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This response — from the Android team — does seem to suggest that Pixel device trees will no longer be offered. Moving forward, AOSP wants to offer a “reference target” that is “independent of any particular hardware, including those from Google.”

Again, Google is “committed to AOSP,” but those that use custom ROMs will have a tougher road ahead.