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Comment by DangerousPie | Hacker News Reader

Ridiculous to target Apple here. They have been way better than any other mobile phone manufacturer about this. How many Android devices released over 5 years ago still have access to the latest OS version and security updates?

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They have a plan, but it's a less evil plan than other mfrs. My Pixel 2 XL, which is FINE, is now out of software support. I bought it in August 2018, when it was the latest Pixel. Meanwhile my wife's 6S, from Sept 2015, is still supported. Go sue Google!

Google, though, specifically introduced Project Treble for the exact purpose of making the hardware-dependent portions of Android separate from the rest of it. It worked so well that there are now custom ROMs in the form of one system image that runs on a wide variety of devices using different SoCs. Yet Google themselves act as if there are insurmountable difficulties in supporting old devices. No there are not. They act as if they still need Qualcomm to keep older devices up to date, but they don't.

If folks over at xda-developers could do it in their free time, Google could too — if they wanted.

But besides, Android is feature-complete. It's done as a product. There's nothing more to be added. You really only need security updates.

Same experience here.

I have an iPhone which got a security update a few months ago. I think the phone is seven years old now.

Meanwhile, the Android supplied by my job is done with security updates after a little under two years.

It's not guaranteed to get software updates, but Pixel 2 is able to run Android 11, and so I believe it will continue to get security updates so long as Android 11 receives them. But it won't get access to Android 12 whenever that comes out and I agree overall that the support period for smartphone software is way too short nowadays.

I finally switched to iPhone after my perfectly functional Pixel XL was effectively made useless by Google discontinuing security updates. Perhaps I could have flashed a custom ROM on the Pixel, but I want a device that works with minimal fuss (I'd rather tinker on other things).

And google is praised for having 3 years of support when most other Android phones have 2 or less.

I get not giving full OS updates for longer, but it seem like security updates for an expensive, important device that most people rely heavily on should be for 10 years at least.

They also actively build their phones to be purposefully hard to repair and have stood against many of the "right to repair" laws that have been introduced that would extend the life of their phones.

This behavior would seem to contradict your statement.

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