One of the best trends you’ll find in Android right now sees OEMs offering seven years of software updates for theirnew premium flagship devices. In the never-endingAndroid vs iOS battle, one of the biggest wins for Apple has been supporting its smartphones for longer with five years of software updates, compared to the two or three that most Android devices once offered. This finally changed last year when Google announced that the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro would be supported for seven years. And earlier this year, Samsung jumped on the seven-year bandwagon as well.
These moves have the potential to attract customers who tend to use their phones for multiple years, or even those who consider the resale value of a product while making a purchase decision. If you are impressed with these claims, here are some caveats you might want to keep in mind.
Setting the right precedent
There are some concerns worth keeping in mind
The first problem that we’re quite certain customers will face a few years down the line is that many of the newer features are likely to be paywalled (requiring a subscription) in the future. For instance, the new Galaxy AI features on the Samsung Galaxy S24 series arefree only until the end of 2025— that’s less than two years overall — after which they will need a subscription. As OEMs look to find new ways to keep that cash rolling in, expect almost all the signature features require an additional payment to be accessed.
Samsung has not revealed what the pricing will be, but Samsung Mobile’s President TM Roh recently revealedhow their Galaxy AI features could be monetized, creating a distinction between the free and paid features in a way that the free users get the basics while paying users get “more powerful AI capabilities.” I believe this is just the start, and brands will try hard to push more users to the paid segment by keeping the best features exclusive. Samsung is not the only one guilty of this — even some of the new features on the Pixel 8 require a Google One membership.
So, while, in a way, Samsung and Google (and possibly other OEMs in the future) have committed to supporting their devices for the better part of the decade, we can’t help but be pessimistic about how the rollout will be addressed.
Sure, these phones will get the new Android version updates and security patches, but they seldom change how a phone is used. It’s the more innovative and smarter features that breathe new life into devices. And for now, it seems like they won’t make the cut, at least not for free.
This leads us to the bigger issue that we foresee consumers will face down the road. Samsung and Google are obligated to only provide Android and security updates, and not necessarily the newer features that will be announced in the future — even within a single generation, the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro didn’t get an identical feature set. And in a time when AI is getting better by the day and more smartphones are resorting to software to differentiate themselves, this will be a huge bummer for consumers hoping to get the best a few years later.
Hardware and software go hand in hand
It’s not just about new OS upgrades
Simply put, you shouldn’t expect to see the Pixel 8 or Galaxy S24 get the new headlining features that will debut on the Pixel 14 or Galaxy S30 in 2030. This pretty much defeats the purpose of the promise of longer software support. Don’t get me wrong, I still appreciate the move, but this won’t fundamentally change how people use their phones. You’ll be surprised to know how few people even know the current Android version number of their devices. It seems to be something that users don’t care about.
We don’t even need to go too far into the future to envision how this will pan out. Take the example of the Pixel 7. It is promised to receive updates for at least two more years. However, it won’t get any of the new AI features announced with the Pixel 8, such as Magic Editor and Video Boost. Samsung is a little better in this regard by committing to offer Galaxy AI to its 2023 flagships butnot to any of its 2022 launches.
How many years will my Google Pixel get Android updates?
Google’s Pixel phones are some of the longest-supported Android phones
Samsung attempted to justify this move by suggesting that the older hardware will not keep up with the processing power requirements of new software features. But with that logic, won’t most features in the future require higher processing power? Furthermore, looking at the way things are managed right now, the heavier features are anyway offloaded to the cloud for processing. Then it shouldn’t be difficult to bring them to older devices. This would also better justify a subscription, as the infrastructure to offer these features directly costs money.
An outlier among Android giants
Don’t let the moldy sandwich analogy distract you
If there’s one company on the outside of this phenomenon — while also managing to weigh in with its own take — it’s OnePlus. The OnePlus 12 is promised to receive four generations of Android updates, while the OnePlus 12R will receive just three. Whilethe company’s moldy sandwich analogywas unnecessary, it does make sense — the approach of offering fewer updates and acknowledging the limitations of hardware is far less misleading.
I’m not trying to throw shade at Samsung or Google. What they have started will push the industry to do better and, overall, bring Apple stronger competition. We hope that what we’re suggesting doesn’t end up being the reality, but customers need to know what you’re buying into. After all, it’s not like phones are getting cheaper.
