Google’s Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro boosted the security update timeframe for the company’s phones to five years from the prior standard of just three, but any hopes that this was setting the stage for a broader expansion have been dashed.
In a response to Vice regarding the end of support for the Pixel 3 the company spokesperson indicated that “three years of security and OS updates still provides users with a great experience for their device” (via 9to5Google).
While this probably shouldn’t come as a surprise, the presumed reason for Google’s confidence in extending the security updates for the Pixel 6 is the move to its own Tensor chip, there was still some hope that the move signaled a shift in Google’s stance on updates. Notably, Google didn’t extend the major OS updates on the Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro, that remains at three years.
Comparisons to iOS support can be a little misleading due to Android’s ability to update key components of the operating system without updating the OS itself, however even factoring that in things don’t look great. Perhaps the best example is that…
