It seems that at the request of the German government, Europe wants to persuade smartphone companies to support their products in terms of security for 7 years. They must also provide the necessary parts to repair these products for the same period of time.
Recently, a German news site called Heise Online published a strange report that all phones entering the European market should be supported in terms of security and repair of parts for 7 years. Android phones are currently supported at best for 4 or 3 years, even if you have a very powerful flagship or mid-range phone.
Some of Samsung’s flagship phones are currently supported for three years in terms of software and four years in terms of security, but many Android phone companies support their phones for up to three years. Of course, we have to factor in Apple phones, because this year the American company showed that it can even support its phones for six years; This is while until a few years ago it was five years and again twice as much as Android companies.
Keep in mind that what we are talking about are security updates; That is, those updates that go to phones with a size of less than 500 MB and only strengthen these products in terms of security infrastructure so that they do not have any security or privacy problems. Operating system or UI updates are quite different from these updates because they are often 1 GB or more in size and often change the look of the phone and add a number of new features. In this regard, Android companies are finally updating their phones for 3 years, and again, it is Apple that holds the record for 6 years.
What Europe wants from smartphone manufacturers are these security updates so that users in this market can be safe in terms of security for a very long time. This prevents users from having to buy a new phone every few years for security reasons.
In addition, supplying spare parts for 7 years will have a huge impact on reducing electronic waste, and this is perhaps the main reason behind this. Of course, it is said that in this meeting, which was held with the German government, a proposal for a period of 5 years was also proposed, but the point is that representatives from none of the phone manufacturing companies were present. Finally, it seems that what will be completely mandatory is a three-year security update. Whether Europe and the manufacturing companies can agree on a longer period of time is a matter for which we will have to wait for more news.
