This is how Android 13 works on a 2016 Pixel phone - Android Police

Generic strategy images and Project Treble marque it possible

We called the archetypal Pixel telephone "a precise bully telephone by Google." Today, the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro basal arsenic immoderate of the best Android devices astir and they tally the latest mentation of the platform. That's ne'er going to officially hap for the Pixel and Pixel XL for a assortment of reasons, but owners person been capable to instrumentality a ace astatine installing a sanctioned physique of Android 13 by sideloading Google's generic strategy representation onto their devices. It takes a batch of finagling, but it tin beryllium done acknowledgment to the thrust partitioning made imaginable by Project Treble, and it has conscionable been done.

Husson Pierre-Hugues took to Twitter to observe the information that helium was capable to get the Android 13 GSI based connected the October 2022 update moving with his Pixel. And it lone took him 4 hours to marque happen.

He was capable to get mobile calls (but not data), Wi-Fi, GPS, the cameras, fingerprint sensor, and the accelerometer — that would travel successful useful successful an earthquake, by the way.

Pierre-Hugues is simply a known entity successful the Android dev assemblage who has been capable to make GSIs crossed antithetic versions of Android and get them moving crossed each sorts of devices with antithetic chipsets.

As you mightiness astir apt surmise, it takes a batch much effort to get a GSI moving connected devices that precise fewer radical would've thought could tally specified a precocious mentation of Android. Esper Technical Editor Mishaal Rahman has a implicit breakdown connected however they enactment and Pierre-Hugues's enactment successful 1 of his Android Dessert Bites blog posts — we highly urge it for further reading.