The European Union takes the regulation of smartphone manufacturers seriously. Apple is the main concerned by its new regulation on the single charger in which the integration of USB-C will be an obligation for all. Now the opposite is happening, since they are Android builders who stay in the spotlight with the new proposal on updates.
The manufacturers seem to have put the batteries in terms of years of updates, at least for the highest range. However, what is new proposed by the European Union could be used to models of any range continue to have updates in the years following its release.
3 years of full updates and 5 years with security patches
For motu owner And not by imposition, Apple is one of the manufacturers that extends iOS updates for its iPhone the most over time. In Android it is more complicated to find similar cases, although Google with its Pixel and Samsung with its high ranges They can be a good example.
However, it is not the same with other manufacturers and even less so in the economic and medium ranges. The complexity of bringing updates from different layers of customization to such diverse devices has always been the excuse. If what Europe wants is achieved, They’re going to have to get to work now..
Specifically, the EU proposal requires all manufacturers guarantee 3 years of system updates and 5 years of security patches. This as minimum requirements, as it is obvious that manufacturers will be able to extend these deadlines further if they wish.
The EU is also calling for faster updates and an end to planned obsolescence.
And that’s not all, since there is another striking imposition that Europe wants to impose and that is that the devices it takes 2 months maximum to receive the update upon its release. In this way, those update schedules that some manufacturers have now and that sometimes cause some terminals to take time to receive updates that in other ranges were received almost a year ago (or more) would end.
Another fact that worries the EU and which enters into its proposal is planned obsolescence. It is not described as such, but it refers to mobiles should not slow down after update. Europe doesn’t want updates to slow device performance, or degrade the battery just for updating.
Now this rule is in the initial stage of approval. For the moment, the proposal has been made effective and they will now have to face several months of information gathering and conversations with different stakeholders. It can even be extended for a year, which is only the period that must elapse between its final approval and its entry into force. Thus, these taxes could be subject to variations and it will be rare for them to be effective before the end of 2023 or even 2024.
Through | Android Authority
