Wow - Google may be planning to ship a major kernel upgrade to all its (Tensor-powered) Pixel phones!

Current Tensor Pixels may be upgraded to Linux kernel 6.1, according to comments left on an AOSP patch by Google engineers. Tensor G1 and G2 Pixels currently run on Linux 5.10, while Tensor G3 Pixels run on Linux 5.15.

Tensor G4 Pixels (ie. the Pixel 9 series) may release with Linux kernel 5.15 but will also be upgraded to Linux 6.1.

Major kernel upgrades are rarely ever done for Android smartphones, even for Google. Google has had test branches for newer kernel releases for its Tensor Pixels, but you had to compile a kernel based on those branches yourself if you wanted to upgrade the major kernel version.

One big benefit of performing a major kernel version upgrade is it will make long-term support better in the future, plus it'll introduce new features.

(Thanks to akes29 on Twitter for the tip!)