Android SDK Platform Tools is a component of Android SDK. It contains tools to interact with the Android platform, such as adb, fastboot, and systrace. These tools are needed when developing Android applications. If you want to unlock the bootloader of the device and flash it with a new system image, you also need to use these tools.
Although some of the new features in these tools are only available for newer Android versions, these tools are backward compatible, so you only need one version of SDK Platform-Tools.
Although some of the new features in these tools are only available for newer Android versions, these tools are backward compatible, so you only need one version of SDK Platform-Tools.