Google just handed over its update authority to Samsung

sexy as new Galaxy S22 Hardware, it’s Samsung’s five-year new update pledge that caught my eye. With the promise of four years of operating system updates and five years of security patches, Samsung’s warranty is the best in the Android business and comes close to Apple’s level of long-term support. This means that the Galaxy S22 series will see support immediately up to Android 16 sometime in the 2025/2026 window. Talk about age away.

Even more surprisingly, Samsung is reneging on its pledge to include older devices as well. So this applies not only to the new Samsung Galaxy S22 series, but also to the entire series Galaxy S21 rangethe Galaxy S21 FEGalaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 foldable, in addition to its new phone Galaxy Tab S8 Tablet range. Not to forget that the company has already promised a good three years of OS updates to some of its less expensive smartphones as well. Simply put, Samsung is now ahead of the pack when it comes to the length and width of the smartphone update policy. So glory is here.

You may have noticed that Samsung’s latest policy is even better than Google’s three OS and five years of security pledge that came with Pixel 6 series. Big G’s Android update has been going on for a few months now. Even then, we weren’t convinced Google had done enough to lead from the front, and it didn’t take Samsung long to show that Google, and anyone else, could do a better job when it came to long-term support.

Read more: The promise of Google Pixel 6 update isn’t good enough

Consumers are tired of excuses

Both Google and Samsung still far outperform the industry as a whole. Other major brands such as OnePlus, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi only offer three years of OS updates to some of their most expensive smartphones. If you’re running a mid-range phone, you’ll be lucky to see two OS upgrades, while Google and Samsung offer much longer support for their cheaper models. While it’s great that these two beat him to the top (someone should), millions of other Android users still miss out on long-term support.

What’s particularly frustrating about the broader situation for Android update is that we’ve heard a lot of noise from various parties about the difficulties and improvements that have been made in bringing updates to Android devices. Google and its partners have put a lot of work into initiatives like the 2017 initiative Project Treble2019 The main line of the projectand working with chip vendors like Qualcomm to support Four versions for Android Since the end of 2020. However, it has taken until 2022 for Samsung to maximize the update capabilities that are now available.

As such, there is no reasonable excuse for not matching up Samsung’s long-term support level. It’s definitely not chip support or ways to deliver updates; These bottlenecks have been resolved. Case in point, Google jumped on its Tensor chipset, but the move didn’t lead to the expected level of long-term support. The Pixel 6 will receive two years more security updates than its predecessor. A welcome improvement but hardly the game-changer many expected.

While security updates are important, it’s the operating system and feature updates that keep devices feeling fresh and modern throughout their lifespan. This is especially important in an era when technological innovation has slowed, prices have risen, and consumers expect to keep their smartphones for many years.

See also: Annual smartphone model is outdated, software is the future

What is stopping you, Google?

With this in mind, there is nothing stopping brands from retroactively improving their update promise for 2021 smartphones. If Samsung could deliver longer updates to smartphones and tablets in the past year, all while relying on third-party silicon, what is stopping Google and the industry in general from doing the same?

Google has done this in the past, bringing Android 10 to the OG Pixel when it could have left users on Android 9 Pie. It’s also worth noting that the Pixel 6 support page lists OS upgrades “until at least” October 2024, so the phone can be supported after that. However, a pre-commitment is much better than a potential surprise when the phone is nearing the end of its life.

So the ball is in your court, Google. Can you match the Galaxy update pledge and bring four OS updates to the Pixel 6? Or are you happy to let Samsung show you how to properly support its products on the Android ecosystem?