Pixel 6 devices won’t be able to roll back to Android 12 after Android 13 update
Good news! As some of you might have heard, Google has released the Android 13 update for its Pixel phones. The update will come with a bunch of new features, changes, and improvements that Google detailed about Android 13 ever since they released the developer preview earlier this year.
Now, onto the bad news. In a note on its developer website, Google is warning Pixel 6 owners (and newer, which includes the Pixel 6a) that once they flash Android 13 onto their phones, they will not be able to roll it back to Android 12. According to the message:
“Warning: The Android 13 update for Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, and the Pixel 6a contains a bootloader update that increments the anti-roll back version. After flashing an Android 13 build on these devices you will not be able to flash older Android 12 builds.”
Prior to this, other Pixel devices in the past were able to roll back to an earlier build, but XDA Developers suggest that this might be due to a limitation of the Tensor chipset which can be found on the Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, and Pixel 6a. We imagine that these limitations will also apply to future Pixel devices like the upcoming Pixel 7 series.
That being said, for most end-users this shouldn’t be a problem. It will most likely affect users who might flash between different system images, maybe for testing or development purposes, so unless that describes how you use your phone, like we said, this shouldn’t be a problem for most people.
Source: XDA Developers