Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
TL;DR
- The current Chrome version is the last version to support Android 8.0 and 9.0.
- Chrome 139, launching August 5, will require Android 10 or newer.
- Phones like the Galaxy S8 and Note 8 will miss out.
Are you still rocking an ancient Android phone? Google has announced that Chrome 138 will be the final version of the browser to support Android 8.0 (Oreo) and 9.0 (Pie). Starting with Chrome 139, which is scheduled for release on August 5, users will need Android 10 or newer to receive updates.
The news was shared in a post on the official Google Chrome Help forum, where a support manager confirmed that while older versions of Chrome will still function, they won’t receive any new features or security patches. That puts users of some aging Android phones in a tricky spot.
That includes phones like the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, which launched on Android 7 and ended their software support on Android 9. The same goes for the Galaxy Note 8, another once-popular device that didn’t make the jump to Android 10. Anyone still using an older midrange model from Motorola or OnePlus could also be left behind, but even the original Google Pixel got Android 10.
For users still relying on these devices, the end of Chrome support means increased security risks and a growing list of features that will no longer work. If you’re still using one of these models, Google is encouraging you to upgrade — presumably to a Pixel device.
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