Smartphone software updates: why they matter and how many years you need

Your phone is only as safe and useful as the software that maintains it. Updates close security holes, keep the phone compatible with its apps and sometimes add features. And every phone eventually gets its last one.

The short answer on smartphone software updates: if you plan to keep a phone as your main one for five years, you need dependable security updates for all five, and both Android and iPhone can deliver that. Whether a phone can serve as your main one for five years depends on the exact model: when it launched, what its maker commits to, how updates reach it and whether its battery can be replaced. Here's how to check all four on any phone, including a refurbished smartphone.

Phone adverts blur firmware, software updates and operating system (OS) updates into one thing. Updates come in six layers, and a promise can cover some and skip others.

• Major system upgrade: a new Android or iOS version that brings new permissions, compatibility changes and sometimes headline features.
• Security fixes: patches that close known weaknesses in the parts the maker supports.
• Firmware and drivers: the modem's software, the software that starts the phone and other hardware-specific software. App updates generally can't replace any of these.
• Modular updates: these update selected system parts without a full new version. Android's version, Mainline, covers chosen components only, and its support for Android 11 and earlier ended in the fourth quarter of 2025.
• App and service updates: these cover browser, messaging and cloud apps, each with its own compatibility limits.
• Feature rollouts: whether you get a function can depend on model, language, network, subscription or rollout stage.

How long updates last, how many major upgrades you get and how often updates arrive are three separate promises. Four major upgrades plus six years of security updates usually means overlapping support, not ten years in a row. The Android version a phone ships with isn't an upgrade, as OnePlus stated for its 13 series.

Good habits can't replace every patch. Two documented cases show why.

In March 2023, Google's Project Zero documented four severe flaws in an Exynos modem chip. An attacker needed only a phone number, and the owner didn't have to tap anything. Pixel 6 and 7 got fixes in the March update. Also in 2023, Citizen Lab found BLASTPASS, a zero-click attack that needed no tap and was used to deliver spyware to an iPhone on iOS 16.6. Apple worked with the researchers and issued fixes.

The newest software isn't immune to flaws nobody knows yet, and a fix only helps once it reaches your phone. Both platforms have had serious flaws. Counting the flaws found on each platform says little about which is safer, because exposure, researcher attention and patch timing all differ. What matters is whether the maker keeps shipping fixes to your exact model.

Updates close known weaknesses. No universal percentage says how much five years of support protects you, and phishing, a compromised account or a brand-new exploit can still compromise a supported phone. A phone that loses support doesn't fail overnight. It loses a dependable way to get fixes for future flaws.

These are rules of thumb, not measurements.

• Main phone for five years: updates matter a lot. The phone must have all five years of support left on the day you buy it.
• Replacing after two or three years: updates matter moderately. The extra years mostly help the next owner.
• Used phone bought years after launch: updates matter a lot. The advertised duration can hide how soon support ends.
• Work phone or sensitive accounts: updates matter a lot. How often updates arrive and what they cover both count, and employers or apps can ask for more than the basics.
• Gaming or demanding AI on the phone: updates are necessary but not enough, because hardware becomes the limit.

For calls, messages, navigation and browsing, you'll see only a modest benefit from another yearly redesign. Accessibility, permission control and reliability can matter more, so ask which tasks an update improves on your phone.

Here's the maths, using invented numbers with no currency and no resale value: replacing a 600 phone after three years costs 200 a year. Keeping it for five years with one 100 repair costs 140 a year, 30% less than replacing it. A premium phone at 800, kept for five years with the same repair, costs 180 a year, so the higher price absorbs part of the benefit. Extra support pays off only if you keep the phone longer or pass it on.

The iPhone and Android routes differ in who is responsible and how a fix reaches you. Neither wins by default.

• Who delivers: on an iPhone, Apple decides which models are eligible and publishes every release in one record, from maintenance releases to Background Security Improvements. On Android, the phone maker commits to updates for each model, and its firmware updates come in addition to Google's system and service updates.
• Timing: an iPhone update is one Apple release, though installing it still depends on your settings. On Android, timing varies by maker, model, carrier and rollout. Google says Pixel updates roll out gradually and can take weeks, and Samsung notes that some carriers only support quarterly updates.

The iPhone gives one unified route. Android gives a wider range of policies and more channels. And how often updates arrive can matter more than the final support year: in October 2026 Samsung lists the Galaxy S24 family on monthly security updates and the Galaxy S22 family on quarterly ones.

• Android, through a major upgrade: Android 13 added a notification permission, so you decide which apps may send alerts. Android 15 added private space on phones that support it.
• iPhone: Stolen Device Protection needs iOS 17.3 or later, and you have to switch on its settings. Charge Limit needs an iPhone 15 or later; older models get optimized charging.
• Android, outside the system update: Google announced theft detection lock and offline device lock for Android 10 and later, delivered through Google Play services. The photo picker also reaches qualifying older phones. A useful protection doesn't always need the latest Android version.
• The ceiling: the iPhone 13 can install iOS 27, but Apple Intelligence needs an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max, or a compatible iPhone 16 or later. Update eligibility and access to advertised AI features are different promises, and individual features can add their own conditions.

No update can add missing radio hardware, undo physical wear or guarantee compatibility with future networks and accessories. If you mainly need messaging and authentication apps, updates still have value. Treat future AI features as unknown until they ship.

It depends on the model, not the brand. A promise covers the named models, not every phone under a logo.

• Pixel 6 and Pixel 7: Google promises five years of OS and security updates, counted from first availability in the US Google Store. It raised the OS promise for these phones from three years.
• Pixel 8 and later, Pixel 9a included: Google promises seven years of OS and security updates.
• Galaxy S22: Samsung promises up to four OS generations and up to five years of security updates.
• Galaxy S24: Samsung promises seven OS generations and seven years of security updates.
• Galaxy A26, A36 and A56: Samsung promises up to six OS generations and six years of security updates.
• OnePlus 13: OnePlus promises four major Android upgrades after the version it launched with, and six years of security updates.
• Fairphone Gen 6: the maker promises at least seven Android upgrades and at least eight years of security updates, through June 2033.

Most seven-year windows haven't run their course yet, so they're promises, not completed records. For what's rolling out now, see the Pixel and Galaxy update guide.

Apple lists each year which iPhones can install the new iOS. That's a record you can check, not a promise for a future year. Apple publishes no fixed end date for the exact model.

The record is long. The iPhone 13, launched in 2021, can install iOS 27 in 2026, which makes five years of major updates on record. Apple's September 2026 security releases list iOS 27.0.1 for the iPhone 11 and later, plus maintenance releases for older versions.

Apple says earlier iOS versions don't get fixes for every known security issue, because some changes depend on newer architecture. The phones receiving a legacy update can change from release to release. And iOS numbering changed, so the gap between two version numbers isn't the number of yearly upgrades.

For the iPhone 15 Pro Max, Apple's UK declaration states at least five years of security support from 22 September 2023: a regional minimum, not a five-upgrade contract. Use the record to set expectations, not to calculate a retirement date. The refurbished iPhones guide covers the buying side.

Software support pays off only if the hardware lasts as long. Apple's design target is 80% of original battery capacity after 500 full charge cycles for the iPhone 14 and earlier, and after 1,000 for the iPhone 15 and later, under ideal conditions. These are cycle targets, not guarantees for a set number of years, and usage and temperature change the result.

Before you blame an update for a slow phone, check the battery (including any swelling) and how it could be replaced, storage pressure, damaged parts, changed apps and the exact software build. If a problem you can repeat starts right after an update, note the model, build and symptoms, then look for a release that fixes it.

In 2024 OnePlus, whose support policy was then shorter, argued that long support loses value if the hardware deteriorates. Fairphone replied that replaceable batteries should come with long software commitments. Both have a commercial interest, and both point to one rule: software support and maintainable hardware should cover the same period of use.

Fraunhofer IZM's life-cycle assessment of the Fairphone 4 projected a 31% lower annual carbon footprint for five years of use instead of three, and a 44% lower one for seven years with two battery replacements. The assessment was commissioned by Fairphone and covers one phone, so these are scenarios, not universal results, and not the effect of updates alone.

• Long support means fewer forced replacements: that's true if you keep the phone or pass it on. The saving depends on that.
• iPhones always outlast Android phones: Apple has a substantial record of updating older iPhones. But several Android makers now promise six or seven years, and most of those years are still ahead, so the verdict is open.
• Android upgrades no longer matter: Google Play services and modular updates deliver real benefits, such as theft protection and the photo picker. But major versions still change what the platform can do and which protections it offers, and modular updates end too.
• Seven-year promises are only marketing: most of those years lie ahead, so nobody can prove them yet. Explicit commitments and a maker's record of past updates are still evidence worth weighing.
• Updates are meant to slow old phones down: the evidence doesn't show it. Apple documents a battery mechanism that can limit peak power, but reports conflict and rarely separate battery age, apps and storage from the update itself.

• The exact model and variant: promises apply to named models.
• Support end and clock start: check the end date the maker states, and whether the count began at launch, first availability or a regional declaration.
• Upgrades versus security years: they're different promises, so check each one.
• Late-life cadence: check how often updates arrive in the final years.
• Firmware coverage: the modem and the software that starts the phone need fixes too.
• The features and apps you need: app requirements follow their own clock.
• Battery and parts access: can the battery be replaced, and by whom?
• Proof of delivery: look for evidence that updates have been released for that model.

A weak spot in any one can outweigh the headline number of years. Once you own the phone, keep a recoverable backup, install security fixes promptly and test your essential apps after a major upgrade. If you stay on old software indefinitely, you give up maintenance.

Replace the phone when support ends, a required app or feature is unavailable, reliability drops or repairs stop making sense. The announcement of a new software version alone is a weak reason. With these checks in hand, browse refurbished iPhones, Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel and OnePlus phones.

How long do iPhones get software updates? Five years and counting for the iPhone 13: launched in 2021, it can install iOS 27 in 2026. Apple publishes no fixed end date for an exact model, so that record is a guide, not a promise.

How long do Android phones get updates? Between four and seven major upgrades and between five and eight years of security updates, depending on the model. Pixel 8 and later promise seven years of both, and the Galaxy S24 promises seven OS generations and seven years of security updates.

Do software updates slow down older phones? Not as a rule, and the evidence doesn't show they're designed to. A worn battery can limit peak power, and full storage or more demanding apps play a part too. Check the battery and storage first.

What happens when a phone stops getting updates? It keeps working, but fixes for new security flaws stop arriving, and some services check how recent your security update is. Plan to replace it, and limit use for sensitive accounts until then.

Will my banking apps stop working when updates end? Not automatically: each app chooses its own checks. On Android 13 and later, a banking or payment app that uses Play Integrity's strong verdict can require a security patch less than a year old. Many other apps accept much older software: as of October 2026, WhatsApp supports Android 6 and later.

Is an older refurbished phone still a smart buy? Yes, if the remaining support covers how long you'll keep it. A Pixel 8 bought in October 2026 has about four years of its promised window left, a Pixel 6 almost none. Compare the years left, then the price.