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| Vivo: Three years of Android updates for flagship |
Vivo today announced that the upcoming X-series will receive Android OS upgrades and security updates for three years.
This policy applies to mobile phones released in Europe, Australia and India after July 2021.
Vivo’s CTO said in a statement: We promise our customers that they will enjoy a great smartphone experience for a long time and that they will continue to benefit from the latest features of the program.
In today's announcement, Vivo has joined a small but growing group of Android manufacturers as they prepare for three-year OS updates for their flagship smartphones.
Google has always had a similar policy for Pixel phones, and last year Samsung announced a three-generation OS policy that covers specific Galaxy devices.
HMD joined the list in April, promising two years of updates for Android operating systems and three years of security updates for its new X series phones.
LG also said: In the same week that it announced its withdrawal from the smartphone sector, it will introduce updates to Android operating systems for a period of three years.
Samsung announced earlier this year that some devices will also receive security updates for a year, for a total of four years of support.
Compared to the previous standard two-year period for most Android manufacturers, a three-year Android OS update is a major improvement, but it could be extended to four years in the future.
Last December, Google and Qualcomm announced that they would work together to promote the deployment of up to four generations of Android OS and security updates, starting with devices equipped with Qualcomm's latest flagship processor, the Snapdragon 888.
Vivo's new policy places the company in a leading position among smartphone brands BBK Electronics, OnePlus and Oppo.
As of 2018, OnePlus' official policy is to provide two-year Android upgrades and three years of security updates.
At the same time, OPPO's latest statement states the following: The company offers two-year security updates, and the general policy is to provide second-generation Android OS updates.
Today's announcement from Vivo is the pressure that OnePlus closely follows.
Compared to Apple's update history, these numbers are insignificant. Apple released the latest version of iOS 14 for older devices (like the iPhone 6S in 2015) last year. This is the fifth major update to the phone.