They have a ton of phone models, it's gonna be difficult task for them to maintain all of them beyond 5 years.
The 5+ years updates could be just for their flagship/premium line up.
Yep, AFAIK their current policy of 4 years upgrade only covers devices that use One UI (the lower end models uses One UI Core which have some features stripped). So that means only A5x and up devices.
That's not been true for a while. The A3x series, the latest M34 and starting from A24, A2x series also enjoy that same promise as more expensive devices
Samsung is an industry leader when it comes to Android OS and security updates.
Great on them for considering doing the right thing, but they are not much of a leader if they only react after Google announced 7 years of support for the Pixel 8 😂
... Unless they top that with 12 years...
Google hasn't actually done the 7 years of support yet. If they were serious about long term support it wouldn't have been just an announcement. They would be rolling out Android 14 to all the pixel devices from 7 years ago.
They won't do that, because older Pixel phones used Qualcomm SoCs and Qualcomm didn't support these SoCs for more than three Android versions.
They might technically be able to extend support for the Pixel 6 and up (Tensor SoC), depending on the contract and who, Google or Samsung, is responsible for providing the chipset drivers. But even if it is technically possible to extend support, it is probably also unlikely to happen due to the additional expenses it requires.
Overall it'll be interesting to see how many phones actually live long enough to see their final update after seven years. Considering I already had to replace the battery on my three year old Pixel 5 once (which initially came with Android 10 and got updated to Android 14). USB connectors and broken screens are also common failure points for aging phones.
Sure, but it's nicer that I would stop using my phone because it's not worth repairing anymore rather than because it's not supported.
This doesn't stop Google supporting the older Qualcomm phones. It just means they need to be responsible for the drivers, or contract Qualcomm to do it (which will cost Google extra).
They would also need to take responsibility for any security issues related to the chipset. It is also not possible to upgrade proprietary firmware (e. g. for the modem) at all without support from the chipset manufacturer.
Fairphone doesn't seem to care much about security (they use public keys for signing their OS afterall!), so they may be fine with those compromises.
Qualcomm is interested in selling new SoCs, so even if they actually offer support extensions, their fees are most likely very high to make it unprofitable for manufacturers to go this route.
Fairphone doesn't seem to care much about security (they use public keys for signing their OS afterall!), so they may be fine with those compromises.
Any source for that claim? Digital signing works with key pairs - a private one for signing and a public one for verifying that something was signed by the corresponding private key. So I take it you're saying they publish the private keys used for signing somewhere?
Any source for that claim?
At least the Fairphone 3 and 4 use public test keys in production:
Seems like at least the Fairphone 5 finally uses production keys: https://forum.fairphone.com/t/avb-keys-used-in-roms-for-fairphone-5/100314
That literally doesn't make any sense. When Samsung announced it was going to 5 years it didn't update all the stuff in the past. It's a new thing starting with the new devices. They might give a little extension to devices still getting updates, but devices that already stopped getting updates are likely to have been upgraded from already and possibly harder to continue supporting.
Samsung was the leader. Google had to respond after years of being behind someone that doesn't even work directly on the OS. Doesn't stop Samsung being a leader if they change and go even farther.
And to think Google only supports few models and Samsung dozens or so.
Not even comparable.
Maybe they could open source their drivers so custom ROMs are easier to make
Why would they want that?
They won't of course
The new home of /r/Android on Lemmy and the Fediverse!
Android news, reviews, tips, and discussions about rooting, tutorials, and apps.
🔗Universal Link: !android@lemdro.id
💡Content Philosophy:
Content which benefits the community (news, rumours, and discussions) is generally allowed and is valued over content which benefits only the individual (technical questions, help buying/selling, rants, self-promotion, etc.) which will be removed if it's in violation of the rules.
Support, technical, or app related questions belong in: !askandroid@lemdro.id
For fresh communities, lemmy apps, and instance updates: !lemdroid@lemdro.id
📰Our communities below
Stay on topic: All posts should be related to the Android OS or ecosystem.
No support questions, recommendation requests, rants, or bug reports: Posts must benefit the community rather than the individual. Please post to !askandroid@lemdro.id.
Describe images/videos, no memes: Please include a text description when sharing images or videos. Post memes to !androidmemes@lemdro.id.
No self-promotion spam: Active community members can post their apps if they answer any questions in the comments. Please do not post links to your own website, YouTube, blog content, or communities.
No reposts or rehosted content: Share only the original source of an article, unless it's not available in English or requires logging in (like Twitter). Avoid reposting the same topic from other sources.
No editorializing titles: You can add the author or website's name if helpful, but keep article titles unchanged.
No piracy or unverified APKs: Do not share links or direct people to pirated content or unverified APKs, which may contain malicious code.
No unauthorized polls, bots, or giveaways: Do not create polls, use bots, or organize giveaways without first contacting mods for approval.
No offensive or low-effort content: Don't post offensive or unhelpful content. Keep it civil and friendly!
No affiliate links: Posting affiliate links is not allowed.
Our Communities
Lemmy App List
Chat and More