Five of the six Pixel generations had an update guarantee of a maximum of three years. What some buyers think is not enough, Google thinks is just right. Critical words about this are getting louder.
Google was one of the first smartphone manufacturers with an openly stated update guarantee and has gradually extended this guarantee. But not to the extent that we had hoped. This is probably due to your own views, which you can definitely criticize. Statements from Google give cause for criticism because the update guarantee for other Pixel models will soon end.
Planned obsolescence due to missing updates
In a Vice report, one of our colleagues stated that he will probably have to dispose of his phone when the update guarantee ends. Since there will be a lack of new security updates, devices without newer updates are vulnerable to any bugs and vulnerabilities that are still found afterward. Nevertheless, Google thinks it’s good and right that the guarantee is only valid for three years.
In a statement as part of the article by colleagues, a spokesman for the group underpinned this attitude.
We find that after three years of security and operating system updates, users are still having a great experience on their device.
And I fully agree with the colleague who sees his phone more like a refrigerator. As long as the device does well at the things it was built to do, why replace it early? But with devices like today’s smartphone, the level of digital security should be particularly high, because many private and professional things are shared via it. So I can understand that with every month that the phone does not receive any of the newer security updates, one has more doubts about the security.
Google could have extended the warranty for older devices later
Google has only guaranteed new security updates for a total of five years since the Pixel 6. But in our opinion, it would probably not have been a problem to implement this guarantee for a few older devices. Was it possible to do it with Samsung? In addition, Google itself announced in December 2020 that, together with Qualcomm, it would enable the provision of new security updates for four years. The criticism of the article can of course also be applied to many other manufacturers.