Android 15 runs on Linaro development boards based on Qualcomm and HiSilicon chips

Android 15 source code was just pushed to AOSP last week, and Linaro has already ported it to four reference development boards based on Qualcomm and HiSilicon/Huawei chips namely Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 devboard (SM8550-HDK), Qualcomm Robotics Board RB5, Qualcomm Dragonboard 845c (DB845c, aka RB3) and HiSilicon Hikey960.

Recent Google Pixel phones can already get Android 15 beta, but that makes the aforementioned development boards some of the first hardware platforms running Android 15 which could be useful to app developers and people wanting to customize Android 15 OS for their target product(s).

Android 15 worked on the same day as the release to AOSP thanks to a collaboration between Linaro and Google to make sure reference boards get support as soon as possible, and in this case, we had a “0-day boot” as Linaro puts it. This collaboration started in 2022 with Qualcomm Robotics RB3 and RB5 platforms getting Android 13 support as soon as the source code was released.

If you own any of the supported boards, you can download the Android 15 images below:

• db845c-userdebug images for Dragonboard 845c/RB3 and RB5 boards
• sm8x50-userdebug images for Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen (ARMv9) development boards such as the SM8550-HDK. We’ve been told that “local builds with latest android-mainline Android sm8x50-userdebugCommon Kernel and AOSP/main branch will unlock a lot more features like GPU rendering, WiFi-BT, Audio, USB-C host mode et al”
• hikey960-userdebug images for the Hikey960 board based on HiSilicon Kirin 960 SoC

You’ll also need to check the documentation for the flashing procedure, build instructions from source, and more details about Android 15 support for each board. The announcement only says “Android Open Source Project (AOSP) boots straight out of the box” on reference boards, but it’s unclear what works and what doesn’t.

The Linaro Landing Team for Qualcomm will also attend OSS and Linux Plumbers 2024 in Vienna, Austria on September 16-20, where they will be running several mini-conferences and BoF (Bird-of-aFeather) sessions about Android, Devicetree, IoT & Embedded, etc… I assume Android 15 on development boards may likely be covered and showcased as well.

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