- Apple officially confirms five years of minimum software support on iPhones.
- Google and Samsung have already confirmed seven years of support giving its rival Apple an edge.
- Users will get minimum five years of update that kicks off from the first date of supply.
Apple, Steve Jobs’ brainchild, never officially confirmed its software support period even though it has the longest among smartphones. Google took that chance confirming seven years of major Android OS upgrades and in fact, the latest affordable Pixel 8a offers the same software support period. Soon, Samsung followed the wagon with the Samsung Galaxy S24 series and many other smartphone makers are actively increasing their support periods.
Turns out officially, Apple is lagging with a five-year software support period. We aren’t making this up instead, the iPhone firm has officially confirmed this in a new document uploaded to the UK’s Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure (PSTI) for compliance. Spotted by Android Authority‘s Mishaal Rahman, the minimum guaranteed software support does put the iPhone manufacturer behind the likes of Google and Samsung.
Now that it’s official, you can ensure that your iPhone 15 will remain secured till 2028 while Samsung Galaxy S24 released in early 2024 will stay afresh till 2030 unless there’s hardware or other damage that could render the phone unusable.
Google and Samsung Outpace Apple in Software Support Period with 7-Year Updates
I understand that the iPhone maker formally disclosing five years of software support seems discouraging. There have been instances when older iPhones have received iOS updates even after the said five years of ‘first supply date’. This is a major pointer to consider as it talks about the date at which the phones were made available for the first sale. Even though the document mentions a minimum of five iOS updates which means, there could be more. iPhone XR and XS launched in 2018 are compatible with iOS 17, and we are currently in the sixth year after its launch.
Thus, it is safe to assume that the iPhones do get more than five years of software support at the minimum.
Even if Apple decides to cap it at five years, you have to recognize how soon iOS updates roll out and how they are adopted by iPhone users. Unlike Android devices that might roll out updates weeks or months later, iPhones usually get their hands on updates immediately starting with the latest flagship models going all the way back to older iPhones. There’s no doubt that the iPhone maker has an upper hand in terms of rolling out updates to iPhones with a higher adoption rate than Android’s.
