After some good, old-fashioned rooting around, it seems that Google disabled the Pixel 4’s DisplayPort Alt Mode over USB in the kernel source code.
XDA-Developers editor-in-chief, Mishaal Rahman, shared the discovery on Twitter, pointing out that there doesn’t seem to be a reason as to why this is the case. The Qualcomm chips offer native support for DisplayPort Alt Mode, while Rahman adds that it’s not even as if licensing fees could be the culprit.
Google explicitly disabled it in the kernel during development. https://t.co/4QyMitc0Hq
No reason given.
Qualcomm chips since the 835 natively support DisplayPort Alt Mode.https://t.co/Bv94GsqLFL
There’s not even a licensing fee involved.
— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) October 31, 2019
Of course, this has some people speculating that this is all part of Google’s grand conspiracy to force users to shell out for Chromecast, and without an official statement on the issue, this theory is only going to gain momentum. There may be hardware restraints, but until Google pipes up, we’ll never know. There is some measure of disappointment given Android 10’s desktop mode which isn’t supported on the device. [Android Police]
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2019/10/google-pixel-4-xl-telstra-optus-vodafone-plans-australia/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/google-pixel-4-header-410×231.jpg” title=”Every Major Google Pixel 4 And 4 XL Plan In Australia” excerpt=”Earlier today Google announced the hotly anticipated (and leaked) Pixel 4 series. In a move that surprised almost everyone, both the Pixel 4 and 4 XL are cheaper than what the previous generation was at launch. That being said, not everyone is going to want to buy one outright, and you don’t have to. Here is every Pixel 4 and 4 XL plan you can get in Australia from Telstra, Optus and Vodafone.”]
This post originally appeared on Gizmodo UK, which is gobbling up the news in a different timezone.