These are the top 3 smartphone brands you trust for software updates

One of the biggest smartphone trends in the last few years has been the shift to long-term software update policies. Apple and Google used to be the kings in this regard, but Samsung blew the industry away in 2022 by revealing up to five years of updates.

Fast-forward to 2024, and it’s not uncommon to see the top smartphones getting updates for a long time In fact, Google and Samsung are both promising an unprecedented seven years of updates today. So with this in mind, we asked readers which manufacturers they trust the most for updates, and over 3,000 votes were tallied.

The most trusted brands for software updates

1. Google

Google might not be the most popular Android phone maker globally, but polled readers voted this as the brand they trusted the most for software updates. Just over a third of our 3,067 votes went to the Pixel maker.

It’s easy to see why as Google is usually (and understandably) the fastest to update its phones to new software. Meanwhile, most other brands take several months to bring the latest version of Android to their devices. It also helps that Google now offers seven years of software updates for the Pixel 8 phones.

2. Samsung

The world’s top Android manufacturer was some distance behind Google in this poll, as 26.06% of polled readers felt the Galaxy maker was the most trusted manufacturer for updates.

Samsung upped the update ante in 2022, and it’s responded to Google’s seven-year update pledge for the Pixel 8 series by promising seven years of updates for the Galaxy S24 series.

We can also understand if some people voted for Samsung in the wake of Google’s treatment of the Pixel 8 (as the standard model skips Gemini Nano and other features). A poll in our recent opinion article shows that more respondents think Samsung is doing a better job with phone updates than Google.

3. Apple

Rounding out the podium with 11.99% of the vote was Apple, as just over one in 10 respondents felt that it was the most trusted smartphone brand for updates. Apple doesn’t actually give a specific promise in terms of long-term updates, but you can typically expect five or six years of updates.

It’s no surprise to see Apple in third place, though. For one, both Google and Samsung promise seven years of updates, outdoing Apple’s iPhones. We’re also an Android-focused website so it makes sense that our readers would prefer Android OEMs.

Other takeaways

• Only two other brands received 100 or more votes, namely Motorola and Xiaomi.
• The “other” option accrued 108 votes, but nobody cited a brand in the comments. HONOR, HUAWEI, vivo, and/or LG fans, perhaps?
• The least popular brands were HMD (19 votes), Realme (30), and Fairphone (36). We’re guessing this poll is more of a popularity contest because Fairphone has beaten every other OEM when it comes to the length of updates. The Fairphone 4 is set to get updates until 2027 while the Fairphone 5 comes with up to 10 years of support.