16 years after the first 64-bit x86 processor was released, the PC industry has been taking steps to move away from the older 32-bit architecture. Many popular games and applications are dropping support for 32-bit processors, and Google announced today that 32-bit machines will soon no longer receive Android Studio updates.

"We are sharpening our product focus and we will only support 64-bit operating systems going forward," the company wrote in a blog post. "Using Android Studio with an 64-bit operating systems enables efficient access to memory for both the IDE and the Android Emulator, and overall leads to a better development experience."

Android Studio IDE 3.6 will be the last version to work on 32-bit systems, but Google will provide product support until December 31, 2020. After that date, the official downloads will no longer be available, and you're on your own. Android Emulator 28.0.25 will be the last 32-bit version, and support for that ends on the same day.

This change isn't likely to impact many people — Android Studio is a a very taxing application to run, and many developers using it on a daily basis no longer have mid-2000s PCs. The move is also part of Google's larger plan to require all Play Store apps to have 64-bit versions available, which takes effect in August of this year.

Source: Android Developers