Android smartphones are notoriously short-lived. Recently, I found my old Nexus 6 in a storage box. The hardware still works perfectly, but this phone was abandoned by Google just 18 months after its initial release. Samsung’s phones are no better. In fact, there are no manufacturers who support their Android devices for more than a couple of years. Why is that?
Well, because they can. Consumers were busy replacing their phones every year or two, so why would a phone or chipset maker support them for longer? The smartphone market was hot, but it cooled down quite a bit recently, and now consumers want their phones to last much longer.
Most Android smartphones are powered by Qualcomm chipsets, and now Qualcomm is promising to provide all the necessary updates for at least four years. That’s a good start, but it’s still not enough. There needs to be more pressure from consumers when it comes to device longevity and repairability.