Google’s Pixel 8 Software Update Plan Should Push Android Phones Further

Google’s new seven-year software update commitment for the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro is a big step ahead for Android. However it additionally highlights one of many largest weaknesses most Android telephones face, no matter their value: They do not get sufficient software program help. Google’s $449 Pixel 5A from 2021, for instance, will not obtain new Android OS upgrades or software program updates previous August 2024. Three years of updates can go by fairly rapidly.

Smartphone gross sales proceed to say no 12 months over 12 months amid inflation, and persons are possible in search of gadgets they will maintain onto for so long as potential. Market analyst agency Canalys is predicting that the North American smartphone market will decline by 12% this 12 months, although it additionally notes that phone-makers are nonetheless counting on the in any other case steady marketplace for premium telephones. As clients cling onto their telephones longer, preserving these clients updated with new options and safety protections requires longer improve intervals. 

And it is not simply inflation that underlies the necessity for telephones to get extra years of software program help. The replace extension arrives alongside a push for telephones to develop into extra repairable. An growing variety of US states are passing right to repair laws that cowl electronics, and proper to restore proposals lately adopted by the European Union additionally embrace telephones and tablets. 

Now, as Google begins to push its personal Android telephones to last more, listed below are the largest causes cellphone patrons stand to profit ought to the broader trade embrace longer cellphone lifespans. 

Android replace help remains to be a large number throughout the trade 

Google final elevated its safety replace coverage in 2021, giving the $599 Pixel 6 and $899 6 Pro 5 years of safety updates (that is set to end in October 2026). However software program updates stayed at three years — that means that after subsequent 12 months’s launch of Android 15, the Pixel 6 will possible obtain no new software program options. 

In the meantime, over on iOS in 2021, in the event you purchased the then-$599 iPhone 12 Mini or $829 iPhone 13 from Apple, you have been assuredly receiving software program and safety updates for for much longer than three years. Apple’s iPhone XR and XS from 2018 every obtained this 12 months’s iOS 17, and although 2015’s iPhone 6S is now not getting software program updates, it is getting security-focused updates for anybody who’s nonetheless utilizing these telephones.  

Samsung, Motorola and OnePlus, the state of affairs varies drastically. Till the Pixel 8 announcement, Samsung had surpassed Google’s software program replace promise by offering 4 years of software program updates, and it had matched Google’s safety replace coverage with 5 years for its Galaxy S and Z telephones. The cheaper Galaxy A sequence gives a variety of help ranges, with Samsung’s $200 Galaxy A14 5G getting two years of software program updates however 5 years of safety updates.  

OnePlus lately began promising an analogous 4 years of software program updates and 5 years of safety updates for a few of its telephones, such because the OnePlus 11.  

Motorola, in the meantime, has lengthy lagged behind, however it at the moment guarantees three years of software program updates and 4 years of safety updates for the $1,000 Razr Plus. I’ve reached out to Apple, Samsung, Motorola and OnePlus for remark about these insurance policies within the wake of Google’s announcement. 

Because of these differing insurance policies, it may be fairly intimidating to maintain up with how lengthy an Android cellphone is secure to make use of. If these insurance policies may proceed to increase to accommodate whether or not somebody needed to carry onto their cellphone for 2 years or for greater than 5 years, that may at least afford folks with probably the most flexibility, whether or not or not they needed to get a cellphone improve. 

Telephones want safety help to stay secure

Telephones are continually related to the web, however sadly that additionally means there’s the opportunity of your cellphone encountering safety points. Telephone-makers continually present updates to maintain your cellphone secure.  

My colleague Andrew Lanxon explored whether it’s safe to continue using phones which might be now not receiving safety updates. The specialists he spoke with stated an outdated cellphone could possibly be vulnerable to software program points and permit malefactors to steal your information or set up malware in your machine.  

Sadly, many new Android telephones, even costly ones, include very quick safety replace timelines. I criticized the $649 RedMagic 8 Pro for offering solely two years of assured safety updates, despite the fact that its top-of-the-line specs ought to in any other case make that cellphone final for years. (The gaming-centric viewers RedMagic targets may flash these gadgets with customized firmware to get new options after official replace help ends. However most individuals do not have the time to DIY their very own cellphone to that diploma.) 

Although Google’s seven-year dedication is now the longest printed dedication we have seen from a serious phone-maker, the Fairphone 5 at the moment has Google beat with an eight-year dedication to safety updates alongside entry to spare elements for do-it-yourself restore. Though Fairphone is not practically as well-known within the smartphone market, it is made good on its guarantees to date. Its Fairphone 3, launched in 2019, is receiving software program updates via 2026.  

By comparability, Google’s Pixel 4 and 4 XL from 2019 obtained Android 13 final 12 months and have been up to date once more in February 2023. However they’re now not getting new updates. Samsung’s Galaxy S10 line seems to have obtained its last updates earlier this 12 months too, in response to Droidlife. 

At this time’s cellphone {hardware} can go the space, and restore prices are dropping 

The commonest causes to interchange a cellphone usually come all the way down to battery life and efficiency, until you’ve got misplaced or damaged your machine. Based on a 2019 survey conducted by Office Depot, 63% of its 1,018 respondents cited battery life issues as their cause, carefully adopted by sluggish processing speeds and a damaged charging port.  

Nonetheless, lots of these issues at the moment are simpler to deal with, enabling gadgets to last more. Software program optimizations assist handle a cellphone’s efficiency and battery. A misplaced machine could be pinged utilizing Discover My Machine on Android. And prices to restore gadgets — whereas nonetheless excessive in some instances — have been declining. An out-of-warranty battery alternative normally prices round $100 or much less: As an example, getting a Samsung Galaxy S21’s battery replaced at Best Buy costs $80. 

Google spent a part of its Pixel 8 launch event touting the truth that the brand new cellphone line needs to be simpler to restore, together with publicizing its continued partnership with iFixit to supply spare elements and restore guides. Google has instructed Android Authority that spare elements availability may even final the identical seven years as software program help. Apple has additionally made an effort to reduce some repair costs by altering how the iPhone is manufactured. The iPhone 15 Professional and Professional Max’s aluminum substructure makes it simpler to interchange cracked or broken again glass. 

These efforts will hopefully push the cellphone trade much more towards strikes that stretch the lifespan of gadgets, making it so you need to substitute your cellphone solely once you completely should. 

I do want phone-makers may go one step additional, although, by making the {hardware} simply as straightforward to improve because the software program. Roughly a decade in the past, in 2013, Google developed a modular cellphone idea referred to as Project Ara that made it potential to basically construct your cellphone by snapping items collectively, much like a PC. The idea theoretically would enable for easy repairs and even cellphone upgrades. However that dream was dashed, with launch plans delayed and eventually canceled. 

Within the meantime, phones are increasingly being made with recycled materials, with Apple and Samsung each selling a higher use of recycled metals and plastics within the manufacturing of their flagship telephones. A bigger reliance on recycled supplies may assist scale back waste created when telephones are discarded. 

Software program updates are nice, however there’s nonetheless extra that may lengthen a cellphone’s life 

As telephones get extra years of software program help, dazzling new cameras and smarter AI-powered options, it is superb what number of age-old issues we nonetheless expertise on the devices.  

Higher sturdiness — whether or not that is discovering extra methods to stop a cellphone from scuffing, or simply making telephones much less liable to shatters after falling on pavement — can be fairly significant on gadgets, regardless of the value.  

Telephone corporations have made some strides: Apple’s Ceramic Shield has improved the iPhone’s display sturdiness, and Samsung has an entire quality assurance facility for testing its telephones in difficult situations like drops and excessive temperature conditions.  

But telephones nonetheless break. YouTube channel JerryRigEverything discovered that the brand new iPhone 15 Pro — regardless of being constituted of titanium — cracked throughout a bend take a look at that did not harm another iPhone 15 mannequin. 

And although most trendy smartphones can stand as much as water and dirt, maybe warmth resistance is the following space the place telephones may enhance. Presently, cellphone software program helps stop overheating ought to your machine find yourself in direct daylight for too lengthy. Apple this week issued a patch to deal with overheating complaints linked to the iPhone 15 Professional.

However a number of gaming telephones I’ve examined have extra superior cooling techniques than your common cellphone, enabling them to remain purposeful whereas powering high-end graphics. The Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate has a door that bodily opens for higher airflow to the hot-running processor and GPU when paired with a cooling fan accent — which, to be honest, is overkill. However it nonetheless makes me assume phone-makers could possibly be doing extra to develop higher cooling techniques. 

Lastly, whereas proper to restore legal guidelines are bettering entry to cellphone repairs, these fixes are nonetheless tough to handle with out formally licensed elements and guides. As an example, Apple’s iPhone 14 lately had its repairability rating downgraded by iFixit as a consequence of requiring a software program handshake even when utilizing real alternative elements from Apple. In contrast with long-running industries like these behind kitchen home equipment and computer systems, the cellphone market sees off-the-shelf elements which might be usually unusable in repairs. In the meantime, Valve’s Steam Deck handheld gaming console is kind of easy to crack open to upgrade with more storage. Some corporations are promoting aftermarket Steam Deck screens with greater resolutions. 

Though there’s extra that may be carried out to increase the life cycle of telephones just like the Pixel 8, Google’s seven-year promise for software program and safety updates is commendable. Ought to the corporate observe via, it will imply the Pixel 8 will obtain extra main software program updates than lots of Apple’s iPhone fashions, whereas encouraging clients to stay with Pixel for the lengthy haul. Now I am simply ready for Samsung, Motorola, OnePlus and different phone-makers to catch up.