Smartphone processors update policy? (Qualcomm, Mediatek, Unisoc, Exynos)

Privacy Questions
1

Hello,

I tried to research this topic on the internet but there is a lot of conflicting information.

How many years of security updates do mobile cpus get?
I heard that Qualcomm gets 3-4 years. So i checked a Samsung released 2023 and it had Qualcomm chip from 2021. So does that mean that the Qualcomm cpu will get updates only until 2024-5 while the OS will continue to get updates according to Samsung policy?

I need to choose a stock android for some relatives and i want to make sure they will receive updates for the firmware atleast as long as the OS support life. Pixels excluded.

So does anyone know the support cycle for Qualcomm, Mediatek, Exynos chips? Maybe Unisoc as well :slight_smile:

2

Any particular reason to exclude Pixels (apart from their awful availability)?

3

They do not work correctly carrier-wise in my country. Even stock Pixel.

4

May we know the country you are in?

5

I do have a spare Nokia device with Unisoc, it gets timely security updates as its based on Android one. Maybe look for Android One devices ?

1 Like
6

Unfortunately there hasn’t been a new Android one device since 2022. I think i will get Samsung with Exynos chips, since Exynos is owned by Samsung i think they should provide updates as long as the OS is supported since i could not find any information about Exynos update policy. While Qualcomm only supports their socs for 3-4 years and when the phone is released usually the soc is already old.

7

You could try browsing Samsung’s product security update page to try guessing how long they update their Exynos processors (check the last few months’ updates and see the oldest affected processors and when they were released).

1 Like
8

Wow, thanks a lot. I see that some exynos socs from 2019/2020 are mentioned and they are used in non-flagship phones like A71, A51. That is great news.