Germany wants to impose new rules on smartphone manufacturers regarding the update policy and repair options of their phones. For seven years, phones would continue to receive updates. We asked
Seven years of updates?
Not only in Germany is the government convinced that smartphone manufacturers should bear more responsibility for the devices they release: the European Commission also has similar ideas with its Ecodesign plans. At the moment, Europe is still working on the legislation, but the intention is that smartphones will be supported by manufacturers for five years. During that time, fixes are possible and security updates are released.
Five years sounds slightly less ambitious than the German proposal, but at least it’s better than the two years of security updates that are now the industry standard. Some manufacturers, including Samsung, OPPO, Google and recently Xiaomi and OnePlus are taking the initiative themselves to support devices for longer. DigitalEurope, a collective that includes Apple, Samsung and Huawei, rejects the EU’s proposal and wants to make three years of support the new standard.
AW Poll, the result
In this week’s AW Poll, we asked for your thoughts on the German idea of ​​seven years of security updates. 14 percent of the readers who voted agree and are willing to pay a premium for it. 6 percent of voters think it’s a bad idea, for fear that smartphones will become more expensive.
Still, a large majority (63%) of voters were in favor of the EU’s plan: five-year updates. Five years should therefore serve as the golden mean between seven and three years of support. Only 14 percent of voters agreed with those three-year updates, the manufacturers’ proposal.