How Many Years of Updates Does Each Brand Promise? (2026)

How long a phone keeps getting updates is decided almost entirely by who made it — and in 2026 the gap between the best and worst brands is enormous, running from eight years at the top to barely two at the bottom. But before the table, the single most important warning: the promise depends on the exact model, not the logo. A 2025 Samsung flagship is supported into 2032; a 2021 Samsung is already dead. So treat the brand as a starting point, then check the specific phone.

These figures track each brand's current commitment for new phones. The number that matters most is the security window, so that's what we lead with.

The leaders: 7–8 years

• Fairphone — the outright champion, officially committing to 8 years of security support (the Fairphone 6 runs to 2033), aiming for up to ten, on a fully repairable, modular design.
• Samsung — 7 years of OS and security updates on the Galaxy S24 generation onward; even recent A-series budget phones get six.
• Google — 7 years on the Pixel 8 generation onward, and crucially the cheaper a-series (a Pixel 9a) gets the same seven as a Pixel Pro.
• Honor — joined the top tier in 2025 with 7 years of OS upgrades and security on its flagship Magic series.
• Nothing — the Phone (3) carries 7 years of security patches (with five OS upgrades), quietly matching the giants.

The strong middle: 5–6 years

• OnePlus — current flagships get four OS upgrades and 6 years of security.
• Oppo and Realme — both recently jumped their flagship tiers to 6 years of security (Find X8 series; GT 7 series).
• Xiaomi and Vivo — flagship tiers commit to 5 years of security; lower tiers get noticeably less.
• Asus — up to 5 years of security on the ROG Phone line, though only about two OS upgrades.

The short windows: 3–4 years

• Motorola — 4 yearson Razr/Edge flagships, but budget moto g phones get far less and it's labeled an estimate, not a promise.
• Sony — about 4 years on recent Xperia flagships, trailing the mainstream leaders.
• Nubia and several others sit around three years in practice, without a firm numeric pledge.

The budget brands: short and often unstated

Nokia/HMD, TCL, ZTE, itel, and Catgenerally publish no firm commitment and deliver roughly one to three years of patches, tiered by model. These can still be sensible buys if you're replacing the phone soon — but they age out of safety fast, so check the exact figure.

Apple: the one that publishes nothing

Apple is the odd one out: it publishes no policy years at all. Its only written commitment is a five-year legal minimum, but its track record is about 7 yearsin practice (the iPhone 6s and XS each passed seven). Because there's no promise to quote, we model every iPhone at release + 7 years and clearly label it an estimate.

The takeaway

Use the brand to narrow the field, then verify the model. A long-promising brand with an old phone can be worse than a mid-tier brand with a new one. To skip the guesswork entirely, see the longest-supported phones ranking, or read our data-driven State of Phone Software Support 2026report for how these promises play out across the whole market. And if it's specifically Android-vs-iPhone you're weighing, our 2026 head-to-head goes deeper.