To be fair the situation regarding updates is starting to improve now that new phones bring very little to the table besides faster processing and marginal camera improvements and similarly OS updates don't do much besides change the UI slightly.
Samsung (and IIRC Google) now promises at least 4 years of regular updates and 5 of security.
Samsung promised 3 or 4 years of updates in 2019, and then updated that pledge to 5 years for the flagships. What's exciting about Samsung's pledge is that it made this promise for some of the mid-range models in the A series, which are fairly affordable.
My S21 Ultra is in its 3rd year and regularly updated. Should get 5 years of updates, and I intend to keep it until then.
Also, the writing is on the wall that the EU will force phone makers to years of updates, changeable batteries and availability of spare parts.
It's also noteworthy that Google has the ability to update many system services via Google Play. The poor track record of updates from phone makers basically demanded it. In other words, an Android device that hasn't received any system updates in a year or two is still fairly usable.
You’re picking on apple but they’re the best when it comes to this… I don’t know a single android phone that’s still usable after five years and still gets software updates. At a certain point the old hardware just can’t handle the new OS as new features get added. Planned obsolescence is certainly a thing but you’d be wise to lobby Samsung to add updates past two years before focusing your wrath on apple.
Edit: looks like Samsung bumped it up to 4 years of updates in 2019
It got OS updates for 5 years. It's been out of support for only 2 years. How many Android phones sold 2 years ago are still getting updates? How many sold today will get any updates whatsoever?
Samsung already does 4 years updates I think. It's very good, probably better than most other phone manufacturers. But it's a joke compared to how long you can keep using a good laptop.
Samsung offers 7 years of major version upgrades on their flagship lineup starting with the S24. It is not retraoctive, although their 5 year policy has been in place for 2021 devices.
It's unlikely that they will offer security patches beyond that point and the mid-range segment still only gets 4/5 years.
Chinese OEMs offer "major" upgrades for longer, however they achieve this by backporting both Android mainline and proprietary features to older versions of Android, along with security patches.
That's the second time I've seen that timeframe mentioned in this thread. What was your experience? I don't like upgrading so I tend to keep my Android phones for years and just keep the OS updated. I was getting a good day from my S4 after years of ownership.
First thing I looked for and biggest feature I see is 4 years of OS updates and 5 years security updates and this also applies to the previous generation of phones like the s21 series. It’s nice to see literally one Android OEM do the bare minimum of software support nowadays given these phones will probably get used for 4-5 years on average.
I wonder how long Samsung can keep charging these prices though. They seem to be running headfirst into a brick wall of diminishing returns.
Both Samsung and Google now offer 7 years of software support (security and features) on their latest phones, and Samsung is increasing that from 5 years.
> And then there’s also the degrading storage on many Android phones
Apple updates for 5 years. No Android manufacturer does that. Google offers 3 years and Samsung does 3 years on their high end flagships (which I don't personally like).
Apple is simply on a whole different level in this regard.
A new Samsung Galaxy S22 (and above) has 5 years of support. 4 major Android updates and 1 year of security updates. For the Pixel 6/7/Pro (including the cheaper 6a), it's also 5 years, but only 3 major Android upgrades and 2 of security updates.
Not as good as an iPhone (5-6 years), but it's improving.
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