Google took us all by surprise last week when the company introduced that it is going to start delivering seven years of software, security, and OS updates to the newly announced Pixel 8 devices. This new software policy meant that Google was once again the king of software updates, beating Samsung, which has been delivering four years of security and OS updates. However, it seems that the South Korean firm is already planning on upping the game, but not in the same way that some would expect.
After Google, Samsung is upping its software game, presumably because of pressure from the EU, but do we really need it?
Samsung executive Shin-Chul Baik talked about how the company is "actively discussing" more than five years of phone security updates. Baik also mentioned how this move was due to the regulations that are forcing smartphone manufacturers to deliver updates for longer. This could probably mean that the company is currently caving under pressure from the EU.
Sadly, Samsung has not talked about the state of OS updates at the time of writing. This means that OS updates are still at four years, which is still good enough but no longer the best. If the company implements the latest decision, it would mean that we will get four years of OS updates and five years of security updates.
Honestly, I am not someone who is going to use a phone for seven years, so I do not see the point in supporting a device for so long. There are other issues involved here, as well. Including the fact that the hardware ages differently than the software, while I am glad that the Pixel 8 series will be getting software updates for seven years, I am more concerned about just how well the Tensor G3 is going to perform at that time and what features will Google omit simply because they no longer work. This is a double-edged sword, and until we reach the end of the life cycle for Pixel 8, we cannot say for sure.
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