Motorola just proved why it’s still the worst at Android updates

It’s safe to say that we’re living in the golden age of Android updates. All Google Pixel phones come with seven years of guaranteed updates, as do most Samsung phones — including flagships and budget models. Nothing’s latest phone delivers five years of major Android updates, while OnePlus has consistently delivered four years of Android OS upgrades for its phones.

Software updates are an area where Motorola has always lagged behind the competition, and even when the company has shown signs of improving, it’s fallen back into its old habits. And once again, Motorola has just proven why it’s one of the worst at Android updates.

We’re talking about Motorola’s poor update policies again because of a recent report from ITdaily. According to the publication, Motorola is trying to weasel out of EU regulations that would require it to significantly extend its current update promises.

This past June, the EU enacted a new rule requiring smartphone manufacturers to support their products with at least five years of software updates and security patches. It’s a good, consumer-friendly rule, and while many Android brands already follow this, Motorola does not. The company’s budget Moto G handsets are promised just two Android OS upgrades, and even Motorola’s top-of-the-line Razr Ultra is limited to only three Android updates.

The EU’s recent regulation on update support should force Motorola to finally turn things around, but according to ITdaily, Motorola’s lawyers are attempting to push back against it. As the report notes, “They [Motorola] believe that the EU does not require a minimum support period for updates at all, but only requires that any updates be offered free of charge.”

Assuming this is true, does Motorola have any standing here? Possibly. Digging into the full documentation for the EU’s update rule, there’s a line that reads as follows:

Operating system updates: From the date of end of placement on the market to at least 5 years after that date, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall, if they provide security updates, corrective updates or functionality updates to an operating system, make such updates available at no cost for all units of a product model with the same operating system.

While the phrasing here seems clear on the surface — requiring smartphone manufacturers to update their products for at least five years — Motorola is reportedly interpreting the wording differently. Specifically, if updates are offered for a product, they’ll be made available for free. That’s it.

If Motorola is, in fact, pursuing this argument — and if the company is successful with it— it’s safe to say that nothing will change with Motorola’s current Android update strategy. If Motorola can find a way to keep skirting by with two or three years of Android updates, it will, just as it has for years.

As disappointing as this report is, it’s one of the least surprising things I’ve seen this year. And if you’re a Motorola fan like me, you probably feel the same way. For all the things Motorola gets right, the company has never offered a competitive Android update policy. And year after year, that continues to be true.

For a while, I was hopeful that enough feedback from critics and consumers would encourage Motorola to do better. But the truth is that it hasn’t — at least not consistently. The company has shown glimpses here and there, but nothing has stuck.

In September 2024, the Motorola Edge 50 Neo launched as the first Motorola phone with five years of Android updates. But since then, Motorola has continued to release phones with just two or three years of updates — and that’s been the case for the vast majority of them. We know Motorola is capable of supporting its phones for longer, but time and time again, it chooses not to.

Even if you don’t consider Android updates the end-all-be-all, which I think is a fair mindset to have, the fact is that Motorola repeatedly offers less than its competitors. When Google and Samsung are providing seven years of updates for phones that cost $500 and $400, for Motorola to cap a $1,300 flagship at just three Android OS upgrades is absurd.

After putting up with Motorola’s update shenanigans for years, and now hearing that the company is reportedly fighting legislation that would require it to improve, I think I’m done hoping Motorola will ever turn a new leaf. I want Motorola to be better than this, and you should too. But when Motorola itself clearly doesn’t want to be, maybe we should just accept that Motorola is — and always will be — the worst at Android updates.