I don't remember the specifics, but I migrated to iOS after being appalled at how quickly my Pixel phone was losing OS updates, including security updates. IIRC, it was due to lose updates after it was less than three years old.
Its security theatre.
At least now now with Google's own chips (Pixel 6+) the guarantee is 5 years of security updates but still only 3 of Android version updates.
At the very least, marketing and packaging for units sold as new near the end of the security lifecycle should have a disclosure like: “We will try to keep this phone secure until [EOL DATE]. Beyond that date, use of this phone may leave you vulnerable to cyberattacks.” Honestly, that would be a great disclaimer to make a legal requirement for all phones, or even all connected devices for which the concept even makes sense.
(Disclosure: I used to work for Google over 8 years ago. But I never had any involvement with Android in any way, other than trying some versions of Android before they were released outside of Google and maybe giving some feedback internally. I’m certainly not speaking for anyone but myself here.)
Which means that after an initial period of half a year of "production is still slow, you have to wait" and another half year of "we maybe start selling this to Europe now", for the device I've bought today, updates will last a mere 2 years.
They claim they don't do that, and it's 3rd party apps. Perhaps, but it's apps they force onto users with their update process.
I imagine I'm not the only one blocking updates to avoid ads.
Plus, Apple users simply don't care about switching their phones, if Apple says they HAVE TO, they will.
Alternatively: Apple lowers battery drain to reduce the odds of your phone crashing:
* https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/20/apple-addresses-why-people...
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batterygate
The main problem with Apple's actions were: not being transparent about what they were doing (and why), and not giving users a choice (toggle) on whether they preferred speed or longevity.
The only thing I got in the last year was a gps firmware update. Security patch level is still April 1, 2021 so really it's been out of support for over 2 years now.
It's a shame because apart from this huge incompetence from Samsung it's the best phone I've ever had. The latest S23 is far inferior in terms of features. No notification led, no 3,5mm jack, lower resolution display than S8, cameras sticking out of the case, much heavier, no 3D glass, no heart sensor, no pressure sensitive screen. Oh and it's double the price I paid for the S8.
The few things where the S23 is better (CPU speed and photo quality) happen to be things I don't care about. But I do care about security updates.
Only the other day, I got a message from Slack telling me their client won't support Android 9 any more, even though, like most apps, I still use the same features I always did.
Groan!
- support lifetimes are better than before (now at 4 years by standard).
- but they don’t match up well with versions, eg the S8 support ended earlier this year running an android major version from 2018 (four and a half years earlier), the S9 will[2] stop later this year with a major version that will be four years old, the S10 stops next year with a major version that will be 3 years old.
That’s just what is available rather than what actually runs on existing devices.
For comparison, everything from the iPhone 8 onwards (released nearly 6 years ago) can run the latest OS version, much of it does, and some older hardware still gets the occasional security update.
My understanding of the android ecosystem is that pixel phones are much more likely to be updated than iPhones, though they’re at a lower price point which is why I didn’t look into them.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S_series
[2] I may be misreading the table here. It could be that the column is ‘current latest version’ and might change before the EOL date.