OnePlus 12 was unveiled in 2023 and came with quite a lot of improvements compared to the OnePlus 11, particularly in the camera and battery department. However, when it comes to software updates, OnePlus is still not very active against other OEMs. Google Pixel 8 Pro and S24 Ultra will receive software updates for 7 years, however OnePlus 12 will only receive updates for 4-5 years.
OnePlus claims users don’t need long-term software support
For years, one of the worst things about Android devices compared to iOS devices has been the lack of long-term software updates. Apple has always continued to update iPhones for a long time. So much so that the iPhone X introduced in 2017 is still receiving security patches. Google and Samsung promise long software support, making them strong competition to Apple in the Android world.
OnePlus on the other hand, things are a little different. OnePlus’ president Kinder Liu explained in an exclusive interview with Tom’s Guide why OnePlus 12 will have 4 years of software support. Liu wants you to imagine that your phone looks like a sandwich!
Kinder Liu explains why the OnePlus 12 won’t have 7 years of software support: ‘It’s not just software update policies that are important to the user; it’s the fluency of your phone’s user experience too.’
Liu also stated: ‘Imagine your phone is a sandwich,” he said. “Some manufacturers are now saying that the filling in their sandwich — their phone’s software — will still be good to eat in seven years’ time. But what they’re not telling you is that the bread in the sandwich — the user experience — might be moldy after four years. Suddenly a seven-year software update policy doesn’t matter, because the rest of your experience with the phone is terrible.‘
OnePlus’s president, Kinder Liu, points out with this statement that being able to use the phone for a long time is more important than long software support. Liu also emphasizes that tests simulating many years of use on OnePlus phones have been conducted and that OnePlus phones can last for a long time.
Kinder Liu makes a valid point, but phones released recently now feature far better technology, such as more durable UFS storage chips rather than eMMC. Furthermore, each new phone released has only slight upgrades over its predecessor nowadays, so OEMs would rather offer more software support and release phones less frequently.
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