Here’s why OnePlus believes that providing 7 years of OS updates for phones is illogical.

OnePlus has recently launched the new 12 series, which includes the OnePlus 12R, which can in every way be called an affordable flagship. The company offers 4 years of OS updates with the 12 and 3 years if you buy the OnePlus 12R.

OnePlus never explained the reason for its limited OS update period, nor did it attempt to connect flagships like the Pixel 8 series and Samsung Galaxy S24 models, which now receive 7 years of OS updates.

But OnePlus has finally bucked the trend, and in a recent interview, one of the company’s executives talked about its strategy and how they feel about companies going 7 years with their upgrade promise. OnePlus COO and CEO Kinder Liu has tried to provide some rationale for offering 7 years of OS updates, explaining that there is more to extending device support years.

“It’s not just software update practices that matter to the user, but also the smoothness of the user experience on your phone,” Liu was quoted as saying in this report. Basically what he’s trying to say is that offering 7 years of updates doesn’t add any value to the user if the phone’s hardware durability drops by then.

He even used the sandwich metaphor to simplify his point. He said it doesn’t matter if the sandwich filling is still edible after 7 years because we don’t know the quality of the bread and if it can be good enough to last that long.

It’s hard to deny that Liu has made some valid points about extending OS support, but some might say that OnePlus probably doesn’t promise that its device can be used for 7 years, and therefore limits the OS cycle to 4 years.

However, Liu cites industry findings that state that people are likely to upgrade to a new phone after four years, so they see no point in getting 7-year upgrades. Even though Google and Samsung have promised 7 years of OS updates, we’re still a few years away before we can really say that these brands have kept their promises, especially Google, who has an insane habit of going back on their word.

You also have to consider that extending OS updates comes at a cost, which Google and Samsung could probably afford for their premium devices, while OnePlus is already aggressive with its flagship prices, so it may not have much room to go further on these issues. .