Google Patches Pixel 3’s Poor Memory Management in December 2018 Security Update

BY Evan Selleck

Published 3 Dec 2018

Pixel 3 bezels

Soon after Google launched the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, the company confirmed that an issue led to poor memory management.

At the time of the confirmation, Google also confirmed it would be patching the issue in the “coming weeks”. And it looks like that software update is now available. Google is rolling in the necessary patch, along with many others, as part of the latest security update for December. Google calls them “functional patches”, and they are not directly tied to the security of Pixel smartphones, but aimed to fix functionality issues that have cropped up since launch:

“The functional patches are included for affected Pixel devices to address functionality issues not related to the security of Pixel devices. The patches listed in the table below include associated references, the affected category, and the affected devices.”

Google says one of the patches “Improved memory performance in certain circumstances”, as it directly relates to the Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, Pixel 3, and Pixel 3 XL. The Pixel 2 lineup and Pixel 3 lineup should also see “Improved camera capture performance”. And just for the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, the new software should see the handsets get “Improved notification visibility when using Pixel Stand”.

In total, there are 13 functional patches for this year’s and last year’s Pixel smartphones. You can find them all listed through the source link below. And the December 2018 security patch is available now for those who want to download and install it on supported devices.

[via Google]