The European Union puts a fence on five years of mandatory Android updates

Electronic hardware upgrades have always been one of the most controversial aspects of it. Many see behind short update intervals as a deliberate form of obsolescence, forcing many consumers to change devices, specifically smartphones, early on. it seems that European Union Moves to avoid it, as we have recently been able to see not only in the software side, but also in the hardware, with USB Type C Adoption. As the sole shipper for Union.

Five years of updates, only security?

We have been hearing in recent months that those five years of mandatory updates on Android mobiles were close to becoming a reality, at least from Europe, yes, limited to what we know as security updates. These are based solely on improvements and fixes to avoid security holes, and are usually released every month, at least in the case of Google and Android. Under the new regulations, these It must last for at least 5 years For all mobile phones for sale in the European Union.

New regulations It will enter into force at the end of 2024, thus it will force smartphone manufacturers to provide more updates, but not just security updates. Because in the new text promoted by the union, phones will be forced to update for five years also with regard to the operating system. They are known as Functional updates, in which case they must give us at least five different versions of Androidwhich comes with the phone, as well as four others.

Moreover, the cut Each phone must have spare parts available for at least 7 years after the release of the device. In this way, obsolescence will be reduced to a minimum, thus obtaining more functional mobile phones for a longer period of time. And it is that a mobile phone that is no longer updated, especially in the security department, can be a source of problems for users, as data can easily be leaked thanks to the various security holes.

But in this case what is being talked about in the European Union is Enforce five years of security and operating system updates. More importantly, the deadlines for these updates to reach everyone have also been made clear. Since Android manufacturers must submit system updates within 6 months at most after they are released by Google. Manufacturers like Samsung currently offer five years of security updates and four system updates on their most advanced mobile phones.

But it is very different in the case of the cheapest mobile phones, which see how their updates can be delayed for months, and even in some specific cases, even cancelled. These restrictions are not expected to come into effect in the European market until at least 2025. Something that will certainly drag manufacturers to new price increases for their devices.

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