Officially, We Already Know How Long Apple Will Continue to Update the iPhone. Ironically, It’s Still a Secret

Until now, the only way to know how long Apple continued to provide updates to iPhones was to look at its track record. The company has been relatively consistent throughout each generation of its smartphone and is one of the leading players when it comes to the years of support offered. So far, only Samsung and Google have tried to compete with Apple on this front.

Google offers seven years of updates on its Google Pixel and Samsung does the same for some its models. Both data points are noteworthy. Previously, only Apple had offered device support for so many years. As such, the new data we've come across is quite interesting: Apple is promising fewer years of updates for its newest line of devices, although there’s enough news to stay positive.

Five years of upgrades. At least, that’s what Apple promises for the iPhone 15 family. How do we know this? Regulations in countries like the U.K. require manufacturers to include this information as part of a declaration of conformity for connected devices. Apple has signed such a document stating that the minimum time of support is five years.

The numbers are precise on paper: Samsung and Google promise seven years of upgrades, and Apple five, but the math is more complex. Google and Samsung are promising a complete cycle of system updates. Barring a policy change, they will update their smartphones for that period of time.

Apple has guaranteed a minimum, so nothing stops it from exceeding that number. In fact, the company updated models like the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus for seven years.

However, this hasn’t happened in a long time: Apple has offered updates for the recent generations of iPhones in six-year cycles. If this continues, Google and Samsung will take the lead and become the gold standard of device support.

Image | Xataka

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