It would be possible to ship generic system images with separate updates for the device support code.
For mobile devices, the generic targets simply run on top of the underlying device support code (firmware, kernel, device trees, vendor code) rather than shipping it and keeping it updated. GrapheneOS also supports generic targets, but these aren't suitable for production usage and are only intended for development and testing use. For most devices, the hardware and firmware will prevent providing a reasonably secure device, regardless of the work put into device support. In most cases, substantial work beyond that will be needed to bring the support up to the same standards.
Device support repositories for the Android Open Source Project can simply be dropped into the source tree, with at most minor modifications within them to support GrapheneOS. Many other devices are supported by GrapheneOS at a source level, and it can be built for them without modifications to the existing GrapheneOS source tree. These devices meet the stringent privacy and security standards and have substantial upstream and downstream hardening specific to the devices. The release tags for these devices have official builds and updates available. GrapheneOS has official production support for the following devices:
How do I update without connecting the device to the internet?.How can I set up system-wide ad-blocking?.Can apps monitor network connections or statistics?.What kind of VPN and Tor support is available?.Does DNS-over-TLS (Private DNS) hide which sites are visited, etc.?.Does DNS-over-TLS (Private DNS) protect other connections?.Why does Private DNS not accept IP addresses?.What is the privacy policy for GrapheneOS services?.Which connections do the OS and bundled apps make by default?.What does GrapheneOS do about cellular tracking, interception and silent SMS?.Can apps spy on the clipboard in the background or inject content into it?.Which devices did GrapheneOS support in the past?.Why are older devices no longer supported?.Which devices will be supported in the future?.The goal is to provide high quality answers to some of the most common questions about the project, so the developers and other community members can link to these and save lots of time while also providing higher quality answers. Many of the answers would be nearly the same or identical for the latest release of the Android Open Source Project. It's not an overview of the project or a list of interesting topics about GrapheneOS. This page contains answers to frequently asked questions about GrapheneOS.