The simplest trick to know if your mobile will have a good Android update policy

Most mobiles sold in Spain are usually updated to the latest or penultimate version of Android, but when it comes to Android updates, there is still a lot of work to do. Of course the situation is much better than a few years ago, but the policies of the manufacturers do not usually offer update policies with all the transparency that we would like.

Is it possible to know how a mobile that has just been released will update and when and how it will receive updates two years later? Well, there is a method that I have personally applied for years to recommend mobile phones and that to date has worked quite well, so it does not hurt to talk about it in case it could be useful when you are choosing a new mobile.

Will my mobile update well? This is what you should know

Updates are a very important aspect of the mobile experience, as they allow the system to continue to improve over time. It is very frequent that friends, family or readers ask us if the brand of the mobile they have or are going to buy “updates well”.

In such a large market it is very difficult to make a general association. That Samsung, Xiaomi or OnePlus update a specific mobile fast enough is not something that serves as a reference, because as a general rulethey tend to prioritize their latest high-end mobile, while those of previous years or lower ranges are decreasing their priority.What matters is not the brand, but the model.

The only exception to the rule would be Google with its Pixel, the only brand that updates all its models on the same day that the update is available. If having the latest version of Android with the least possible delay is your priority, your decision factor ends here.

Once we have chosen a model, unless the manufacturer has given us an indicative indication, what we will have to do isanalyze the update cycle of its predecessors.

What is the reason for this reasoning? Barring a major make or model change, the resources that the company will allocate to upgrade support should be similar. As we lower the range, that budget will be reduced, affecting the frequency and agility of the updates.

A clear example of Android updates with a mobile not yet presented

Although it has not yet gone on sale, let’s talk about the Samsung Galaxy A52, a mobile called to be among the great best sellers of Samsung due to the history of its predecessors. By the date of presentation, we can take into consideration that it will include Android 11 as standard.

We know from Samsung’s new policy that this mobile should receive 3 generations of Android, so it is expected that it will end up updating to Android 14.

But, When will you get the update?To get a rough idea, let’s go back to its predecessors:

The Galaxy A51, according to the Samsung calendar, would receive Android 11 for the month of March 2021, although this update began in February, moving forward a month. With this data we could already intuit that between February and March 2022 you should receive Android 12.

To know how it should continue to receive updates during the second year, we would have to see the history of the previous predecessor. The Galaxy A50 arrived with Android 9 and received its update to Android 10 during the month of April 2020. It plans to receive Android 11 during May 2021. With this data, we could deduce that the Galaxy A52 would receive Android 13 approximately by May 2023 .

In this specific case, since the three generations of updates are a recent addition by Samsung, it would not make much sense to investigate much further back.

Although we have used a very popular Samsung model as an example, this small analysis can be applied to almost any brand or model, except for new brands or ranges that do not yet have an update history. Mention again that the dates always serve to give us a rough idea and not a final one.

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