Is Samsung and Google’s 7 year update promise just marketing?

Google and Samsung lead the pack these days, with both brands now consistently offering seven years of updates for nearly all of their phones and tablets. Even Motorola recently introduced its first device with a seven-year update, though it’s less clear if this was a one-off change or not.

I have to admit, I was one of those who was once lured in by the update promise, and it’s a large reason why I have mostly stuck to Samsung and Google brands over the last several years. In fact, many Android fans and industry insiders have been critical of companies that don’t break past the four-year mark at least. I understand that the promise of more is always going to be appealing, but in reality, having seven years of OS updates and security fixes is overkill for many of us.

As much as I love my Samsung Galaxy S24, there’s absolutely no way on earth I’ll still be rocking it as my daily driver in 2031.

Update promises sound great on paper, but surveys like those from Reviews.org suggest that most people only keep their phones for about two and a half years. That said, the upgrade cycles are slowly widening, and there are certainly a minority who hang on to devices much longer than this.

The real reason why Google and Samsung promise seven years is to prevent security issues, app store capability issues, and to ensure a more consistent Android experience for its users. It’s also because Android has a history of horrible fragmentation, and so the pledge helps assure people that these days are mostly behind them. There are other reasons beyond this, I’m sure, but there’s no denying it is also just great marketing.

People like the idea of buying something that won’t be obsolete shortly after we pick it up, and seven years is a long time. It also gives you peace of mind. You might be the kind who would prefer to upgrade phones every two to four years, but some of us have tight budgets, so it’s nice to know we won’t feel pressured to upgrade if our situations change. Still, the vast majority will have moved on to a new device within a half-decade.

Even if you did want to keep your phone for seven years, there are other obstacles beyond just software updates when it comes to keeping a phone as your daily driver this long.

Battery degradation is a big one. While I can personally confirm that many phones will technically still power up even a decade later if they weren’t used aggressively, that doesn’t mean they hold a good enough charge to make them practical. Most people will see a serious battery decline sometime between years three and five. At this point, you either have to put up with increasingly poor battery performance or you’ll need to replace it.

The other obstacle in the way is the internal decisions made by your manufacturer of choice. Samsung and Google often withhold certain flagship features from older hardware. Sometimes the reason for this is due to real hardware concerns, sometimes it’s just a way to ensure customers are lured to the newer device. For example, Gemini Intelligence was recently announced and offers plenty of advanced features, but only if your device supports Gemini Nano V3. That means devices like the OnePlus 15R and One Find X8 support these features, but Google’s own Pixel 9 very likely won’t.

Bottom line, even if you have the latest security update and Android version, that doesn’t mean you’ll have an identical experience to someone with a newer device.

If you are shaking your head at me, saying, “I’ve kept my phone for six or more years without an issue”, you aren’t wrong. People absolutely can stretch the experience this long, but only if you don’t mind missing out on features or having potentially downgraded battery life. You’ll have security fixes and all the latest Google Play apps and services should work, you just might miss out on some of the bleeding-edge aspects of Android.

As much as I will always appreciate a long update guarantee, I feel like fast, consistent delivery of updates and general stability matter much more. If Samsung and Google were nailing both of these things, I wouldn’t have much to complain about. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

Recently, we’ve seen Google ramp up updates and new features in a big way. That’s great in theory, but the problem has been execution. Bug issues and other stability problems have become increasingly common, to the point that installing a Pixel update feels a bit like a gamble. Samsung might not have quite as many bug issues when it rolls out new features, but its update cadence has slowed down dramatically in the last couple of years.  One UI 7 was several months late, and One UI 8 and 8.5 have had even messier launches.

I don’t know about you, but if I had to choose between seven years of updates with inconsistent bug testing and other issues over a four to five-year update cycle with better stability? I’d pick the latter every time.