[Poll results out] With Samsung extending security update support to 4 years, will Google, OnePlus, Nokia & others also follow the lead?

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on February 23, 2021) follows:

It seems the Android world has turned upside down over the past few months. On the one hand, OEMs that were known for their quick updates have been struggling to get the latest Android 11 update to their devices.

On the other, OEMs like Samsung that have had a bumpy track record with software updates are absolutely killing it. Matter of fact, Samsung even leaves Google in the dust with security updates at times.

This is because the company rolls out monthly patches a few days before the month even begins (e.g. rolling out the April patch in March).

Of course, this does not apply to all the smartphones from its portfolio but is still applaudable nevertheless.

And the company does not appear to be slowing down. In fact, Samsung announced yesterday that it will be extending software support for Galaxy products launched since 2019, including the Z, S, Note, A, XCover and Tab series, which will now get 4 years of security updates.

While we would have liked it to be 4 major OS updates, we cannot downplay the fact that Samsung is now a step ahead of Google too in regards to security update support, which promises only 3 years of updates.

In contrast, Nokia, which was considered to be the most consistent with software and security updates by Counterpoint last year, offers 2 years of OS and 3 years of security support.

OnePlus, which was the second in the list, promises 2 years of regular software updates and an extra year of security patches for its flagships, although the company has been rolling out 3 OS updates to its devices.

However, budget-oriented devices from the company will only get two years of security updates and one major OS update. That said, other OEMs also offer similar software support for their devices with minor alterations.

But there’s some hope for Android fans since Google and Qualcomm made a joint announcement towards the tail-end of last year claiming that they are now making it easy for OEMs to offer up to 4 years of security updates.

This new change is taking effect with all SoCs launching with Android 11 and later, according to the information shared by Google.

So it’s possible that we may see other OEMs like OnePlus, Nokia, and even Google extend security updates for their devices for up to 4 years.

At present, it’s unclear whether these OEMs will bring the extended software support to existing devices or will the changes only affect newer models that come equipped with the Snapdragon 888 or other new SoCs — if at all.

What’s clear though is that Android users may soon be able to forget worrying about software updates since this move from Samsung will not go unnoticed by other players in the market.

This is a win for Android users around the globe who have had to deal with poor software support for years. And while 4 years of software support still falls short compared to what iPhones offer, it’s a whole lot better than what Android devices got just a few years ago.

Now we’d like to hear your thoughts on the whole situation. Do you think Google, OnePlus, Nokia, and other Android vendors should follow Samsung by extending security update support to 4 years? Or do you switch devices often and don’t need software support for 4 years?

We also have a Twitter poll that you can cast your vote right away. The article will be updated after one week with the poll results.

07:07 pm (IST): The poll results are now available and it’s abundantly clear that most users want OEMs to offer 4 years of security updates as 96% of voters chose this option. The remaining 4% doubt that other OEMs would follow suit. No one thought that this isn’t required.

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