[byterollingbits]

No thanks! I'm not buying a phone that won't get updated with security updates. My trash box is littered with Korean Android phones that have no upgrade path or ability to clean with a fresh install.

I'm opting for a Pixel 2 and an iPhone X for work and personal. They're expensive at first, but way cheaper and far more convenient in the long run. They always have immediate security updates, and they update their OS for atleast 3 years. Korean phones are rip offs, they barely update at all. Every single one of my Korean phones are still waiting for security updates. It costs way more to own a Samsung or LG phone in the long run.

Don't buy Samsung or LG phones.

[microcolonel]

You sound like a bigot, dividing phone manufacturers by country. Nation and industry are not so close in Korea that you could conflate any one company (especially any one subdivision) with every other similar company in the country.

The Pixel 2 and iPhone 8 are as Korean as a Kia. Surely you should not buy them, since they contain that pesky Korean commoditized OLED technology.

[swiley]

It doesn't matter who the OEM is. All Android phones are now wrappers around the Qualcomm snapdragon SOCs if they're sold in the US. They all have the update problem because Qualcomm has refused to work with other organizations or maintain their kernel forks.

[microcolonel]

It's been getting better recently as third parties have taken on the work of maintaining drivers for Qualcomm chipsets, there are now a lot of their chipsets which can run on upstream kernels, and if Android kernels were closer to upstream, AOSP kernels could probably be built to function on some Qualcomm chipsets today.

[kasabali]

Samsung is pretty good at security updates actually. See this 4.5 years old phone here [0] (july), or this 3.5 years old one [1] (september).

0: https://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/galaxy-s4/GT-I9505/

1: https://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/galaxy-s5/SM-G900F/