linux-drivers/
drivers/gpu/drm/msm/adreno

Qualcomm Adreno GPUs (MSM DRM driver)

Qualcomm's Adreno is the integrated GPU found in Snapdragon mobile and PC chips, powering display rendering and 3D acceleration on Android phones, tablets, Chromebooks, and the Snapdragon X Elite laptops. The kernel side of the MSM DRM stack handles GPU command submission, memory management, and power control for Adreno generations spanning roughly the A2xx series up through current A7xx parts.

keep conf=0.95 deploy=high replacement=none subsystem=gpu category=graphics-display
95%

recommendation

It should stay in the kernel because Adreno is the GPU inside virtually every Snapdragon-powered phone, tablet, and the new Snapdragon X Elite Windows-on-Arm and Linux laptops shipping from 2024 onward. The driver is under heavy active development, with hundreds of commits in recent years from dozens of contributors and ongoing enablement for new Adreno generations.

repository signals

33 files
24,579 source lines
453 commits, 5y
+27,213 / −42,418 lines added / removed, 5y
69 authors, 5y
monthly commits · 2021-04-21 → 2026-04-21 · 453 total · active in 59/61 months
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2021-04: 5 commits · +60 −24 2021-05: 5 commits · +1,445 −1,344 2021-06: 7 commits · +421 −66 2021-07: 7 commits · +185 −77 2021-08: 2 commits · +16 −23 2021-09: 2 commits · +56 −10 2021-10: 5 commits · +21 −12 2021-11: 14 commits · +197 −73 2021-12: 4 commits · +62 −32 2022-01: 3 commits · +21 −1 2022-02: 5 commits · +54 −12 2022-03: 11 commits · +820 −402 2022-04: 7 commits · +34 −34 2022-05: 6 commits · +221 −18 2022-06: 6 commits · +34 −34 2022-07: 1 commit · +4 −4 2022-08: 5 commits · +99 −37 2022-09: 2 commits · +12 −10 2022-10: 3 commits · +22 −3 2022-11: 6 commits · +112 −124 2022-12: 4 commits · +147 −25 2023-01: 8 commits · +96 −21 2023-02: 14 commits · +164 −127 2023-03: 12 commits · +1,003 −383 2023-04: 7 commits · +90 −67 2023-05: 3 commits · +169 −9 2023-06: 29 commits · +656 −153 2023-07: 17 commits · +401 −395 2023-08: 10 commits · +41 −43 2023-09: 10 commits · +1,033 −127 2023-10: 3 commits · +33 −18 2023-11: 2 commits · +14 −11 2023-12: 3 commits · +82 −54 2024-01: 8 commits · +8,856 −2,400 2024-02: 5 commits · +193 −20 2024-03: 2 commits · +5 −1 2024-04: 13 commits · +251 −32,109 2024-05: 7 commits · +1,945 −467 2024-06: 14 commits · +1,783 −1,589 2024-07: 7 commits · +34 −8 2024-08: 13 commits · +283 −79 2024-09: 6 commits · +43 −9 2024-10: 13 commits · +1,014 −52 2024-11: 3 commits · +17 −7 2024-12: 11 commits · +340 −34 2025-01: 0 commits · +0 −0 2025-02: 6 commits · +117 −43 2025-03: 1 commit · +4 −4 2025-04: 7 commits · +216 −51 2025-05: 7 commits · +73 −56 2025-06: 24 commits · +380 −342 2025-07: 7 commits · +91 −53 2025-08: 9 commits · +96 −60 2025-09: 21 commits · +463 −98 2025-10: 1 commit · +0 −7 2025-11: 25 commits · +3,069 −1,091 2025-12: 3 commits · +61 −15 2026-01: 4 commits · +7 −3 2026-02: 4 commits · +24 −27 2026-03: 1 commit · +12 −2 2026-04: 0 commits · +0 −0

sources

  1. linux.googlesource.com

    The MSM Adreno DRM driver is listed as Maintained, covering drivers/gpu/drm/msm/.

  2. lkml.rescloud.iu.edu

    A 2024 patch series added Adreno 505 GPU support, showing ongoing upstream enablement rather than retirement.

  3. cateee.net

    CONFIG_DRM_MSM remains present through 7.0-rc+HEAD, with Adreno-related platform/OF matches and recent Qualcomm SoC bindings in the MSM DRM stack.

  4. qualcomm.com

    Qualcomm's current Snapdragon mobile platforms continue to ship with Adreno GPUs, indicating the hardware family is still sold new in 2025.

  5. qualcomm.com

    Snapdragon X Elite announced Adreno-equipped PC platforms shipping from mid-2024, extending current Adreno deployments beyond phones.

codex reasoning notes (technical)

Recommendation is keep: the prompt's local history stats already show very high recent activity (449 substantive commits in 5y, latest 2026-03-05, 60 authors), and cited evidence matches that this is an actively maintained upstream driver with new GPU enablement and current-product relevance. No removal/deprecation signal surfaced in available search results; lore-http was unavailable in-session and `lei` was missing, so that specific point is inferred from the supplied activity metadata plus web evidence rather than direct lore timeline output. URLs were obtained via web search results: MAINTAINERS and LKDDb from search, LKML archive patch page from search, and Qualcomm product/release pages from search.