Get your December Pixel updates: 'Improved memory performance,' 2016 Pixels absent (again), Nexus 5X and 6P not left behind

It's the first Monday in a new month, so there's one thing you can typically expect from today: Google will release its monthly security patches for Pixels. There are a couple of surprises this month, though. The Nexus 5X and 6P are still getting updates, and December images for Google's 2016 Pixels are again curiously absent. The list of functional patches included this month is large, and it also includes "improved memory performance in certain circumstances," for the Pixel 3, 3XL, 2, and 2 XL.
As for that last patch, we don't know just yet if it's a fix for the Pixel 3's multitasking woes, but it would align with the expected timeline for a fix, though it does curiously include the Pixel 2 and 2 XL as affected devices. We'll have to flash the image and check for ourselves, so keep an eye out for a coming update to this post.
Although technically last month marked the last time that Google was obligated to deliver security updates for the Nexus 5X and 6P, the company has apparently decided to continue anyway, as both phones have received December updates. The same can't be said for the 2016 Pixels, which ran into a similar issue last month. We even had a working theory for the delay regarding lack of system partition space for all of 5 minutes, but so far Google has remained quiet about the previous delay's cause.
Last month's update only had a handful of functional patches for Pixels/Nexus devices, this month gets a comparatively massive list. Highlights include " improved memory performance in certain circumstances," " improved camera capture performance," and Android Auto compatibility/audio performance improvements — among a much larger list of general improvements. A good number of "high" and "critical" severity vulnerabilities (with the vast majority in Qualcomm's closed-source components) were also patched in the general security notes.

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