Imagine if you had to wait for HP or Acer to update your Windows PC. How terrible would that be. Nvidia, AMD and Intel stop making new drivers because they want to sell new chips, OEM stop making updates because they want to sell new machines. Truly crappy model.

But this is what we have with Android phones. Qualcomm is not compiling new kernels past 2 year because they want to sell new chips and OEM don't bother updating their phones because, hey, here's a new model!

Apple also wants to sell new devices.

So there is something to be said for longer support times, it must be good for something.

Closest I've seen is Sony.

The problem is reliance on Qualcomm, who have always hated GPL software, and their driver support shows it.

For how long do Sony phones get security updates? Are they at least monthly as with Nexus/Pixel?

I can't tell you about each month but I bought my mother a Z3 Compact around 14 months ago. It got Marshmallow ~6 weeks after its official release, and will have Nougat pretty soon now (so I heard on the net).

Even though I dislike Sony recently, they were awesome -- up to their Z3 phones and Z4 tablet releases. And they don't abandon their devices as quickly as everybody else.

Err, my Z3 didn't get Marshmallow until more than half a year passed from the release date.

Marshmallow was released in late October 2015 [1]. Meanwhile, the Z3 only just started rolling in early April 2016 [2]. That's pretty mediocre if you ask me.

[1]: https://android.googleblog.com/2015/10/get-ready-for-sweet-t... [2]: http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/04/09/marshmallow-update-r...

That's very weird because I clearly remember my mother getting the update around the end of January 2016. OK, it's not 6 weeks, I remember the wrong release date then (thought it was mid-Dec 2015).

Eh, anyway. Peculiarities with the release schedules are sadly the norm.