Sony Mobile has laid out the length of time it plans to continue rolling out Android-related updates to its Xperia line of devices along with the security patches. The Japanese telecommunications company reportedly announced that it will pull the plug on Android update support for the Xperia premium devices two years after unveiling a particular handset. That means the Xperia Z3 and Xperia Z4 are likely to lose software support sometime this year as both handsets were released two years ago. It remains unclear, however, how long Sony Mobile intends to keep supporting its mid-range devices. What’s certain, though, with the company’s Android upgrade policy for its Xperia series of devices is that it will decide to upgrade a particular device only if it complies with Sony Mobile’s standards and proves to be capable of offering a stable experience to users.
The move is understood to be one of the Japanese tech giant’s efforts to appeal to more users who are looking for handsets with a longer lifespan in terms of software support. On top of outlining the Android upgrade policy for the Xperia lineup, Sony Mobile also promised regular security updates for those devices along with those Android OS upgrades. However, Sony Mobile may choose to roll out security updates on a separate occasion whenever necessary, depending on the urgency of a particular security issue. The latter case has occurred many times before in the form of the monthly security updates Sony Mobile has been releasing for its Xperia devices, done separately from major OS updates. For instance, the Xperia XZ, XZs And X Performance have all received the December 2017 security update two months ago as part of the monthly security patch for those devices. The same is true with the other Xperia devices.
Sony acknowledges the fact that its upgrade policy for its Android-based Xperia handsets has been ambiguous in recent years. Now that it has made its Android upgrade policy clear, it becomes noticeable that the Xperia premium devices have a shorter period of software support compared to the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL handsets. The Mountain View, California-based internet giant recently confirmed that its second-generation Pixel devices are slated to receive three years of Android software updates and monthly security patches.