information:extraction, structural:summarization
Lack of software support for a decade

In the 2010s, many customers discovered that their devices were affected by a very short term of software support, regarding Android updates. Especially on low-end and mid-range devices, due to the lack of investment by manufacturers, software upgrades were not effected. Android started then to get a certain reputation due to very fast obsolescence of device from main customer brands. A few years later Google started Treble project, allowing quicker development and deployment of Android updates via Google Play services, to handle the part manufacturers don't.

This initial problem was that for lot of devices, only one or few Android versions were available.

The main reason of this new functioning is explain by the fact upgrade and software support of Android, costs to phone's manufacturers : it's mainly managed with contracts, especially with the leader of communication chipset, Qualcomm. Several manufacturers are finger-pointed by some customers, due to their lack of support. Even a middle-range manufacturer, Fairphone, explained that end of software support wasn't due to their choice, but Qualcomm 's decision. Qualcomm 's has even been finger-pointed by Apple executive, due to their very aggressive antitrust policy, especially for the first iPhone design.

On the first hand, several initiative for alternative OS to stock roms (the default one provided by manufacturer) to get a most up-to-date version of android, through Cyanogenmod then Lineageos project.

Secondly, other mobile operating-system alternative projects started, such as Sailfish for Jolla and Xperia phones, plus community-driven projects : Ubuntu Touch, Postmarketos and even a Android-independent and Qualcomm -independent phone, as the Librem, made by Purism with NXP components.

Thirdly, after years of complaints by customers, Samsung, the biggest manufacturer of Android-based smartphones and devices, decided in 2024, firstly to guarantee software support from 2 to 4 years, for devices sold starting 2022. Then, few times after, Qualcomm accompanied this initiative by extending support for manufacturers from 4 up to 7 years of updates. For the comparison, Apple 's iPhone product range are mainly supported not less than 4 years, since the iPhone 4, released in 2010. In addition, the first Jolla 1 phone, released in 2013, had its last update, in 2021.