When companies now announce as a claim that they will update the Android of their smartphones for four years and that they will continue to release security patches for up to five years after launch, there are brands that leave all this marketing in a very bad place. Fairphone is one of them.
Fairphone has just updated its six-year-old Fairphone 2 to Android 10, which makes it the Android phone with the longest official support in the history of Google’s operating system.
Although it may not sound too impressive, given that we already moved to Android 12 last year, it is an engineering achievement since Qualcomm no longer supports or updates the software of its 2015 processors, forcing the company to develop and test all on your own.
The Fairphone 2 originally launched with Android 5.1 Lollipop. Yes, the same OS that we first saw on the Google Nexus 6. A lot has changed since then, but the Fairphone 2 has always risen to the occasion, at least in patches and updates.
Today marks a big milestone for us at Fairphone. We’re celebrating the roll out of Android 10 for our #fairphone 2. That’s 7 years of software support – an industry first for an Android device! 📱💥 How was this possible? Take a look (full video) ➡️ : https://t.co/rEUszd4WRJ pic.twitter.com/C8rYUqbCOu
— Fairphone (@Fairphone) March 9, 2022
As for the future of updates, Fairphone says that’s as far as we’ve come. And not because they don’t want to continue, but because Android 11 or 12 are not viable due to the countless incompatibilities with the Linux kernel that they are using for the Fairphone 2.
simply, there is no chance to pass the certification that Google requires for all Android phones running its official software. Still, Fairphone wants to support its phone with security updates as long as Google provides them for Android 10.
While six years of software updates is impressive for an Android device, this isn’t exactly unheard of on other platforms and devices. Apple routinely supplies iPhones with six or more years of current versions of iOS.
Android 12L is official: this is the version of Android designed for folding phones and tablets
And computers can basically run the latest version of Windows until they fall apart.
Fairphone is pushing the Android market in the same direction, showing other manufacturers that long-term support can be achieved, even if SoC vendors don’t bother to upgrade their older CPUs.
Samsung is moving in a similar direction with its promise of up to four years of software support for its high-end Galaxy devices, so we can only hope the industry continues to improve on this.
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism