Recently, the IT industry has been shaken by the news that Google’s latest flagship smartphone, the Pixel 7, does not support the latest 5G standard. This is a huge disappointment for people who need to enjoy lightning-fast 5G networks on their devices. While this may seem like a minor setback at the moment, there is some optimism that Android 14 could bring compatibility with this new 5G standard to Pixel 7 owners.

3GPP is responsible for establishing the mobile broadband standards with 5G, which has been on the agenda lately. Standards are available in a “version” format where the Pixel 7 runs on an older version of 3GPP Version 15 compared to other phones on the market today. Version 15 became the first 5G standard in June 2018. This was followed by Version 16 in July 2020, powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X65 in 2021 and an X70 modem last year. Version 17 was announced in June 2022.

According to Qualcomm, version 16 includes “several improvements to key 5G system components, including coverage, capacity, latency, power, mobility, reliability, ease of deployment, and more.” However, there is good news for Pixel enthusiasts who are upset by the announcement. According to recent speculations, Pixel 7 may be upgraded to the current 5G standard with the arrival of Android 14. This puts the Pixel 7 on par with other flagships and allows it to use the latest 5G networks.

According to Google, “3GPP Version 16 will be planned for Android U release.” One comment is that the Pixel 7 will be updated to Version 16 in the fall. The Pixel 8 is said to use the same 5300 modems as the Tensor G3, presumably only the new phone will support it. The possibility of a 5G update with Android 14 is an exciting prospect that Pixel lovers will be watching closely in the coming months.