Like Google’s previous Nexus phones were upon their retail releases, the company’s new Pixel and Pixel XL handsets are in line to get regular software updates for a while – until at least October 2019.
As noticed by 9to5Google, the Pixel purveyor has updated its website’s support section to indicate that the phones will receive Android version updates for a minimum of two years from when the devices first became available for purchase from the Google Store.
Google will deliver security updates for even longer than this. Pixel phones will get those patches for at least three years after the handsets first become available or at least 18 months after the phones were last available to buy in the Google Store – whichever period is lengthier.
Nonetheless, it looks like the Pixel and Pixel XL phones still won’t be supplied with updates for as long as the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus – considering that it wasn’t until last month that Apple finally dropped updates for the iPhone 4S, which was originally released a staggering five years ago.
This, combined with the much greater frequency with which malware infects Android in enterprise, suggests that iOS remains the more secure of these two mobile operating systems on the whole.