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by Hizonner 284 days ago
> I don't think it is laziness per se

You forgot the "stupid" part.

> It's a combination of having far too many models (just look at Samsung's line-up, more than ten models per year if we don't count all the F and W variants), using many different SoCs from different vendors > [...] > This across a multitude of kernel versions, AOSP versions (for older phones), OneUI versions (for phones that haven't been updated yet to the latest OneUI).

Those are choices. If you want to do that, you need a process that can support it.

I suppose it could be that they just don't care and are deliberately screwing their users, but never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence and all that.
2 comments
yathaid 284 days ago
>> Those are choices. If you want to do that, you need a process that can support it.

__need__ is doing a lot of work here. There is no forcing function to get OEMs to do this ASAP: 1) the market doesn't really care that much 2) there are no regulations around this (and even if they were, can you immediately recall a tech exec going to jail for breaking the law ... )

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palata 283 days ago
> the market doesn't really care that much

This. Pixels are not more expensive than flagship Samsungs. If people cared and bought Pixels because they get the security updates, then Samsung (and the others) would follow. But people don't care, so the OEMs don't do it.

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microtonal 283 days ago
It's kinda weird to single out Samsung here, because they are pretty good with security updates and they explicitly talk about long security periods in their marketing. They are not as fast as Pixel, but somewhere mid-range and up (A5x) get monthly updates and they are usually 1-4 weeks behind Google.

It's the other vendors that are the issue. Even Fairphone is behind a lot (and they only release one model at a time).

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palata 283 days ago
The "(and others)" part was about including the other OEMs :-). I used the Samsung flagship as a specific example because it is very expensive, and people who buy it don't have the excuse of the price.
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microtonal 284 days ago
Those are choices. If you want to do that, you need a process that can support it.

I suppose it could be that they just don't care and are deliberately screwing their users, but never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence and all that.

I think for a long time Android users did not really care. Until a few years, Android security support was abysmal with many vendors only doing 1-2 years of updates. Users bought the phones and didn't care, so I guess it was a smart business move to not care.

This changed in recent years due to a mixture of the (then) upcoming EU requirement for supporting devices multiple years with security updates, Apple being able to tout this as an advantage, causing Google and Samsung to enter into a competition to promise the largest number of years of security support, etc.

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