What should be the minimum software upgrade period for Android phones?

Timely and long-lived software updates are one of the most crucial elements of the smartphone experience. However, as it stands now, different OEMs promise different Android update timelines for their phones. The number of Android upgrades a device gets also depends on its price. For instance, flagships phones usually get longer and more frequent updates compared to mid-range and budget phones.

Currently, Samsung seems to be the reigning champion of updates on Android. The company promises three years of Android updates for a whole bunch of Galaxy devices. It also gives some flagships up to five years of security updates. OnePlus also recently committed to three major Android updates for the OnePlus 8 series and newer flagships. In contrast, its Nord N series only gets the promise of a single Android OS update. Meanwhile, many other manufacturers stick to a two-year software upgrade cycle.

What’ll be exciting to see is if Google’s new Pixel 6 series with its home-baked Tensor chip can boost the Android update timeline. Google may be able to provide faster and longer updates than any other smartphone maker given that it no longer has to depend on Qualcomm’s support roadmap.

Keeping all this in mind, we wondered what your thoughts are on the subject. What do you think should be the minimum software upgrade period for Android phones? Take our poll above and drop us a line in the comments section below.