Android only supports two computing architectures right now, namely Arm and x86. The former architecture is used in chips powering smartphones, most tablets, smartwatches, and TV boxes. Meanwhile, the x86 architecture is used in chips that power most PCs.
A new architecture dubbed RISC-V has been gaining steam in recent years, and now Google has
finally announced that Android will indeed support it (h/t:
Ars Technica).
Android for RISC-V is here (kinda)
Google announced the news at the RISC-V Summit last month, with engineering director Lars Bergstrom noting that AOSP (Android Open Source Project) for RISC-V will be 64-bit only. This is in line with Google’s long-term plan for Android at large, as the company’s own Pixel 7 devices
shipped without 32-bit support by default.
The search colossus is aiming to have initial emulator support for developers by the beginning of the year, with Android RunTime (ART) support for Java workloads during Q1 2023.
