Sony isn’t exactly known as the fastest OEM ever when it comes to Android security updates, but at least it has seemingly improved its updating practices for newer devices. More specifically, the Japanese tech giant has just started rolling out Google’s new security patches for its Xperia X Compact and Xperia C4. While the former received the Android security patch from September, the latter will soon only be updated with July’s patch. That obviously isn’t ideal, but it’s better than nothing if you’re an owner of Sony’s 2015 mid-ranger.
As for the Xperia X Compact, its firmware version should now go up to 34.1.A.3.22 after the latest OTA update is installed on the device. If you still haven’t received a prompt to patch your device, note that it should arrive by the end of the day depending on your exact location. Regarding the specifics of this latest software version, Google’s September security update fixes eight major Android vulnerabilities, one of which was located in the OS kernel.
While Google has been putting in a lot of effort to pressure OEMs into pushing out its security patches as soon as possible, the Mountain View-based tech giant has had little success in that endeavor so far. As the number of devices in use is constantly increasing, phone manufacturers have trouble keeping up with software support. Sony has often been singled out as an OEM that’s slow to update its devices though the company has visibly picked up the pace in recent months. Nonetheless, mid-range devices like the Xperia C4 are still heavily lagging behind Google’s security patches, and it’s hard to predict whether that situation will improve anytime soon. For now, all users can do is install the latest updates Sony prepared for them and hope things get better in the future. While the update should have started to hit devices as of today, if you haven’t seen an update alert yet you can always manually check to see if there is an update available for your phone. To do this, simply navigate to the settings menu then the about phone section, and tap on software updates.