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did you know that there are Android phones with 64-bit CPUs and 64-bit kernels but which will only run 32-bit apps? did you know they are actually very common, still manufactured in 2024 by major brands, and the bane of Android console emulator developers everywhere? it sucks.
the reason for this is memory consumption. on Android, all apps are forked from the zygote, a process that is always running and has a preloaded set of libraries (libc, graphics drivers, presumably also Android Runtime, etc). but to support 64-bit and 32-bit apps you need two.
so… if you have a phone with a 64-bit CPU (every modern Android phone) and a 64-bit kernel (probably also every modern Android phone), but less than 4GB RAM… supporting both 32-bit and 64-bit applications is kind of painful memory-wise, so they just… use a 32-bit only userland
now i can see how they came to that, but it's an extremely Google Moment honestly. Apple didn't want to play this game and gave 32-bit a sudden, swift, merciful death. Google are prolonging the agony for everyone. I can't stress enough how absurd “32-bit-only 64-bit device” is
Apple didn't want to play this game and gave 32-bit a sudden, swift, merciful death.I'd rather call it an execution or orbital strike, when half your apps stop working overnight.
Imagine the amount of support tickets that came out of iOS 11, especially once downgrade became impossible.
@iska believe me i know (see https://hikari.noyu.me/blog/2023-02-06-touchhle-anouncement-thread-tech-games-me-and-passion-projects.html)
there must be some happy medium