So of course some will gripe but this is long overdue IMHO. MacOS and IOS have been 64 bit only since 2017.
Besides the performance benefits of 64 bit, there are also significant security benefits as well. To greatly oversimplify, it’s an inherent risk when your total memory space is larger than your addressable one.
We have seen several proof of concept demos where a 32-bit app has companion 64-bit code that sits in memory addresses beyond the 32 bit app that could be used to intercept various things like user credentials.
To be clear, creating something like this is not trivial and we aren’t aware of any actual in the wild exploits so far (though this is one vector people like the NSA have allegedly used in specific cases)
The other good thing is it if Google shows some backbone on this, it should mean more hardware with decent RAM configurations. eg. no more 2GB tablets or phones.
Android could go 64-bit only in 2023, starting with the Pixel tablet | Ars Technica