Why do (Android) smartphone brands offer security updates for 3 years only ?

[james_bond]

I am not using a smartphone at the moment coz I don't need a smartphone. All I do with my phone is make outgoing calls, receive call, send & receive SMS(s). I am planning to buy a smartphone in the near future & the only reason for that is I want to communicate with my family via video calls.

 

I am using this phone now. I had purchased this phone on 2013 and its still working like new. The build quality is simply awesome. Since I don't connect to the internet using this phone I am not bothered about security updates.

 

But when it comes to smartphones internet connectivity becomes unavoidable. Security is very important to me so I use only Linux on my home PC.

 

I searched the web & found that almost all major smartphone brands offer security update for only 3 years. So even if the phone is in perfect working condition the user has to throw it away & buy a new one. Don't you think this extremely unfair ?

[mahyar]

23 minutes ago, james_bond said:

So even if the phone is in perfect working condition the user has to throw it away & buy a new one

that is untrue 

my y5 2017 only received 1 year of update and i'm still using it till now

you can use your phone it just won't be updated and imo that's not huge a problem

and 3 years is the official update time there is always unofficial updates like lineage os   

[james_bond]

1 hour ago, mahyar said:

you can use your phone it just won't be updated and imo that's not huge a problem

 

1 hour ago, NZgamer said:

I used to use older devices and I had no issues with security even though the phones were outdated.

Please read this & you will understand why I think updates are so important.

https://www.howtogeek.com/711886/what-are-android-security-updates-and-why-are-they-important/

 

Its good to know that Google is working on this. The problem with installing third party roms like Lineage OS is the fact that it doesn't support all phones. If your phone is on their list of supported list you are lucky otherwise you are stuck with your existing Android install.

[Commodus]

5 hours ago, james_bond said:

I am not using a smartphone at the moment coz I don't need a smartphone. All I do with my phone is make outgoing calls, receive call, send & receive SMS(s). I am planning to buy a smartphone in the near future & the only reason for that is I want to communicate with my family via video calls.

 

I am using this phone now. I had purchased this phone on 2013 and its still working like new. The build quality is simply awesome. Since I don't connect to the internet using this phone I am not bothered about security updates.

 

But when it comes to smartphones internet connectivity becomes unavoidable. Security is very important to me so I use only Linux on my home PC.

 

I searched the web & found that almost all major smartphone brands offer security update for only 3 years. So even if the phone is in perfect working condition the user has to throw it away & buy a new one. Don't you think this extremely unfair ?

Welcome to Android.

 

The situation is much better than it once was (Samsung provides up to four years of regular security updates for phones made in 2021 onward), but the truth is that Google, chip manufacturers and Android phone developers have both technical hurdles (the sheer variety of hardware and custom software) and, sometimes, a vested interest in cutting support short. And there's still a bad habit of "punishing" budget Android phone buyers with shorter or less frequent security update cycles.

 

If you want the best security update policy on the market, you have to get an iPhone. That's not hyperbole. Apple typically provides five or six years of OS updates after a model's first release (the iPhone 6s from 2015 can run the latest version of iOS), and you'll likely still get important security updates for a little while after that. Importantly, you don't have to wait for updates or watch your OEM skip them... if a security update is available, it's available immediately for all compatible iOS devices.

[james_bond]

@Commodus

After reading your reply I checked the prices of Apple phones. They are ridiculously expensive. So I tried to find out the reason for that & found this :

 

https://www.businesstoday.in/current/corporate/iphone-12-way-costlier-in-india-than-countries-like-us-dubai-singapore/story/419505.html

[Commodus]

16 minutes ago, james_bond said:

@Commodus

After reading your reply I checked the prices of Apple phones. They are ridiculously expensive. So I tried to find out the reason for that & found this :

 

https://www.businesstoday.in/current/corporate/iphone-12-way-costlier-in-india-than-countries-like-us-dubai-singapore/story/419505.html

Yeah, that's the caveat. They're not cheap to start with (the iPhone SE is as good as it gets), and India's politics have led to higher prices than you'd pay in, say, North America or Europe. If Apple could convince India to help lower prices, that'd be a good start.

[Kilrah]

7 hours ago, Commodus said:

If Apple could convince India to help lower prices, that'd be a good start.

The point of the massive tax is to push manufacturers to build phones in India, so it's unlikely to happen unless Apple opens a factory there.

[Commodus]

14 hours ago, Kilrah said:

The point of the massive tax is to push manufacturers to build phones in India, so it's unlikely to happen unless Apple opens a factory there.

As I recall, though, Apple already does make some iPhones in India. Just not all of them.

[OhioYJ]

On 5/12/2021 at 4:13 AM, james_bond said:

Its good to know that Google is working on this. The problem with installing third party roms like Lineage OS is the fact that it doesn't support all phones. If your phone is on their list of supported list you are lucky otherwise you are stuck with your existing Android install.

 

So? Every device in my house runs Lineage. Before I buy a tablet or phone I make sure it can be unlocked and has Lineage support. It's the same with PC hardware if you think about it. I run Linux too, and while hardware support is much better these days, you still need to check on somethings. I don't just buy a printer or a wireless card without researching to figure out if it will work in Linux. When I build a new PC, I figure out what sound chip and on board LAN it has to make sure it will work in Linux. Some are more trouble than others. Seems to me it's the same thing.

 

Since security is your focus just buy a device that you can sign your own builds and relock your bootloader (such as oneplus or google) on and call it a day. If you want more devices to supported you could always contribute?

[Donut417]

On 5/12/2021 at 2:38 AM, james_bond said:

searched the web & found that almost all major smartphone brands offer security update for only 3 years.

Android devices are a mixed bag. You get one to three years of updates. That is determined by the manufacture. Part of the reason is that most Android phones dont run "Stock" Android. Samsung and others will add features and stuff in to the OS thats specific to their ecosystem/features of the device.  Which is why when Google releases a new OS, it takes for ever to come to third party phones, while Google phones tend to get the updates first.

 

Apple supports devices for 4 to 5 years generally. One thing to consider is that some times the updates will cause issues with battery life and such but they do keep them supported. 

 

On 5/12/2021 at 2:38 AM, james_bond said:

So even if the phone is in perfect working condition the user has to throw it away & buy a new one.

No entirely true. Depending on the Android phone you might be able to unlock the boot loader and install a NEW Rom from one of the many projects that do their own Android based OS. As @OhioYJpointed out, Lienage is one of the most well known. This is probably one of the bigger selling points of Android as its Open source and anyone can use it. 

[OhioYJ]

20 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

 @OhioYJpointed out, Lienage is one of the most well known. This is probably one of the bigger selling points of Android as its Open source and anyone can use it. 

Absolutely. I have two tablets in the house that are 8 years old that are running Android 11 (Lineage 18.1) thanks to the open source community. Those tablets would ewaste otherwise. Not all products have that kind of support behind them but it's nice to see things like that happen.