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Sony's high-end Xperia phones will get software upgrades two years after launch
- Sony has confirmed it will offer Android software updates for its flagship Xperia phones for two years after they are released.
- Sony’s mid-range and budget Xperia phones are not guaranteed to get the same treatment.
- Security patches for Sony’s phones could be released separately from other Android updates.
In 2017, the first smartphones that had Android 8.0 Oreo installed out of the box didn’t come from Google; they came from Sony, in the form of the Xperia XZ1 and Xperia XZ1 Compact. Now there’s word that Sony’s latest flagship devices will be able to get the latest Android updates up to two years after they launch.
The new Sony Xperia update policies were discovered by Xperia Blog. If Sony sticks with this policy, the Xperia XZ1 and Xperia XZ1 Compact should get updated to Android P and Q.
The new policy does not guarantee the company’s mid-range and budget phones will get the same software update treatment, however. Sony says updates may not come to those devices if they don’t meet the company’s “exacting standards”, or if the hardware in those phones won’t produce a stable user experience after the updates.
The new policy also says that high-end Xperia phones might get security updates outside the normal Android OS update cycle “depending on timing and situation”. While this is indeed good news for Xperia XZ1 and XZ1 Compact owners, it sounds like people who purchase less expensive phones from the company take the risk of not getting the same software support.