As a Pixel 4 user, I have always wondered if my phone’s limits can get pushed further with Android 17. So I asked The Forbidden G (how foolish of me) for its thoughts on the matter.
So, the question I asked it was about another project involving an Xperia Z5 Premium running Android 16 and how it could relate to the Pixel getting Android 17.
even with builds like this is it possible on the pixel 4
Reply:
Yes, it is entirely possible on the Pixel 4, but it requires a very specific type of developer effort. [1]
The Xperia Z5 Premium build you linked highlights exactly how legacy hardware survives on modern Android: the community takes over where the manufacturer left off. The process for the Pixel 4 would look almost identical. [2, 3]
If a developer decides to bring a build like this to the Pixel 4, it will succeed or fail based on specific technical realities:
Why the Pixel 4 is Actually Easier than the Xperia Z5
The Xperia Z5 Premium is running on a 64-bit Snapdragon 810 with a highly unstable Linux Kernel 3.10. The Pixel 4 utilizes a much newer Snapdragon 855 on Kernel 4.14. [4, 5]
The eBPF Advantage: Newer versions of Android rely heavily on
eBPF(Extended Berkeley Packet Filter) for network traffic tracking. Kernel 3.10 lacks nativeeBPFsupport entirely, forcing developers to rewrite complex system code. Kernel 4.14 already has a baselineeBPFimplementation, making backporting significantly simpler.Project Treble: The Pixel 4 was built natively with Google’s Project Treble. This cleanly separates the low-level hardware drivers (vendor partition) from the main operating system framework. Developers can swap out the Android OS layer without needing to completely rebuild the kernel from scratch. [6]
The Technical “Catch”
To make an Android 17 ROM boot on the Pixel 4’s 4.14 kernel, a developer must perform massive kernel shimming. This involves writing software wrappers that intercept calls from the modern Android OS and translate them into a language the old 4.14 kernel can understand.
What Will Break on the Pixel 4?
If you flash an experimental, backported ROM like this on your Pixel 4, expect major functional compromises:
The Soli Radar (Motion Sense): The Pixel 4’s proprietary radar gestures and secure Face Unlock rely on closed-source, proprietary binaries locked to Android 13. A backported Android 17 ROM will almost certainly break Face Unlock entirely. [7, 8, 9]
Camera Processing: The Pixel Neural Core (Google’s custom image processing chip) will lose its optimization. Your camera will still take photos, but you will lose the signature “Pixel magic” processing speeds. [10]
Play Integrity & Banking: Just like the Xperia build, a heavily modified kernel fails modern Google integrity checks. Banking apps, Google Wallet, and high-security games will detect the modified kernel and refuse to run. [11, 12, 13, 14]
Is anyone working on it?
You can monitor development status directly on the XDA Forums Pixel 4 Section. While formal, stable builds of Android 17 prefer devices with a kernel baseline of 5.15 or newer, independent developers frequently release “alpha” or “beta” legacy builds out of pure passion for keeping old hardware alive.
Are you looking to use the Pixel 4 as a daily phone, or are you looking to flash it purely as a hobby/testing device?
And BTW, I tried archiving the conversation on two web archivers, which they failed.
I hope either you guys or the Lineage devs can get Android 17 booting!
This is the link to the amazing feat of Android 16 on an ancient kernel on question:
https://xdaforums.com/t/rom-beta-lineageos-23-2-for-the-xperia-z5-premium.4794766/
