Phones that still get four years of updates

A phone's processor stops mattering long before its security patches do. Buy for the update policy and the rest tends to follow.

Read the promise carefully

There are two numbers, and manufacturers blur them deliberately. Version upgrades move you to a new release of the operating system. Security patches close vulnerabilities without changing anything you can see. A brand advertising "four years of updates" often means two of the former and four of the latter.

Promises kept versus promises made

The useful test is not what a company commits to for a phone launching now, but what it delivered on the phone it sold four years ago. That record is public and it is unflattering for several brands that market heavily on longevity.

What a lapsed phone actually costs you

Banking apps drop support. Some payment features stop working. The phone keeps functioning for calls and messages, which is why lapsed devices stay in use, and why the risk is quietly carried by people least able to replace them.

The practical rule

Subtract the months since launch from the promised window before you buy. A phone eighteen months into a four-year policy is a two-and-a-half-year phone at a two-year price.