After recent changes in Android Open Source Platform code recently revealed that Google’s next major Android update will replace the Dalvik runtime with ART, xda-developers has discovered new information about the next version of Android that might be announced at Google I/O this week. According to recent merges in the AOSP master branch, the latest version of Android will come with 64-bit support.
Following Apple, which introduced the 64-bit A7 processor last year, Android makers will also use 64-bit chips starting in 2014, with Google including support in future versions of Android for the new chips. Intel has already modified Android to support 64-bit chips.
This isn’t the first report indicating that Android will support 64-bit processors. An Android Police report detailing the next Nexus tablet, based on information received from a source familiar with the matter, has revealed that the Nexus 9 will sport a 64-bit CPU from NVIDIA, and will be released only in the last quarter of the year, likely alongside the next big Android release.
