OnePlus is trying. The Chinese manufacturer, known for its mobiles with an aggressive quality/price ratio, has just announced that certain phones launched from 2023 will be entitled to extended software support. The brand will align itself with Samsung and offer 3 years of major updates and 5 years of security updates.
Four versions of Android
Unfortunately, the official list of mobiles that will be entitled to this advantage has not been revealed by the manufacturer. No doubt the next OnePlus 11 will be entitled to it, but nothing is less certain for the OnePlus Nord series. Anyway, this is very good news for fans of the brand.
By promising four years of major updates, therefore the deployment of four versions of Android on its smartphones, OnePlus overtakes Google (the Android publisher, let’s remember) which only offers three years of major updates on its Pixel range. In doing so, the “small” manufacturer allows itself to gently put pressure on one of the biggest companies in the world to show it that it is possible to do better.
5 years of security
But, more important than these three years of major updates, OnePlus promises 5 years of security updates. On this, the manufacturer aligns itself with Google and Samsung. Remember that Android works with two separate update cycles. Major updates, which allow a phone to switch to the new version of Android once a year, and security updates, which are technically rolled out once a month and protect your phone against vulnerabilities and the like dangerous bugs.
Security updates are far more crucial than feature updates, since they keep a phone going longer. Even if a phone does not take advantage of the latest Android features, it remains perfectly usable as long as it is protected against the various security problems that can appear on Android.
While OnePlus doesn’t roll out security patches every month, like Google and Samsung can, the company promises updates at least every two months. A phone updated for 5 years is a phone that can be kept for 5 years, which is crucial for reducing the carbon footprint of our digital activities. The premature renewal of telephones weighs heavily on our carbon footprint. Keeping your phone as long as possible is therefore the best strategy to limit its carbon footprint. This is why pushing back the software obsolescence deadline is absolutely urgent.