Comment by grapheneos
8 hours ago
MTE is a standard ARM security feature. Simply using standard ARM cores and cache was enough to provide MTE and that's why the Pixel 8 was able to provide it.
Pixel 8 through Pixel 10a have MTE and so does the iPhone 17. iPhones have above 50% usage share in the US and various other countries along with at least around 30% in most of Europe.
Ah I see but if it's standard in arm why don't other brands have it? As far as I understand Samsung use standard arm cores too, ever since they dropped their mongoose design. Not sure about Qualcomm.
Ps again not trying to make an argument, I'm just interested. Though I do hope for more budget options even if it has to be a lower grade under a different branding. But having the full GOS on an affordable device would be even better.
Apple for me isn't an option due to price and limited access to the system either by the way (like being limited to the app store)
Samsung does have MTE on certain devices. They don't allow us to support their devices by either not allowing another OS or crippling functionality including security for them. Samsung has nearly all of our security requirements on certain devices but that doesn't mean we can support them. Samsung also does decent updates for the drivers and firmware on their flagships too. Samsung is welcome to work with us and have GrapheneOS support for their devices.
GrapheneOS supports 'a' series Pixels and those provide the same security and updates as the higher end devices. A used Pixel 8a is a very affordable device with great overall security nearly as good as a Pixel 10 and plenty of update support remaining. Pixels are not available in enough countries but the 'a' series devices combined with the long support they receive already provides very affordable devices in countries where they've been available for years.
Qualcomm was quite late to providing MTE due to their custom cores. Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 does provide MTE, as will the next generation SoC used on the initial Motorola phone with GrapheneOS support.