The German government submitted a proposal that requires mobile phone vendors to provide security updates and replacement parts for up to seven years. This new rule is expected to extend the life of mobile phones on the market.
This proposal was registered as part of negotiations with the European Commission, and is two years longer than a recent European Commission proposal.
Both of these proposals were of course criticized by mobile phone manufacturers who are members of the advocacy group DigitalEurope. This organization consists of technology giants such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Huawei, Microsoft, Samsung, and others, as quoted from Engadget, Tuesday (7/9/2021).
Contrary to the request of the German government, DigitalEurope only wants to provide security updates for three years. They also want to limit spare parts repair to just the screen and battery, not to the camera, speakers and other components that are supposed to last longer.
Apple currently provides software and security updates for five years, while most Android phone vendors provide security updates for three years. Samsung recently committed to providing security updates for four years.
If this proposal passes, it doesn't mean that current Android and iPhone users will get operating system updates for seven years. Under this rule, security updates and replacement parts subsidies are expected to make phones last longer.
The EU proposal is slated to take effect in 2023, and is expected to help protect the environment as the cell phone change cycle becomes longer.
Not only that, this rule can also help mobile phone users who are still running an old-school operating system. Based on StatCounter data, as of August 2021 there are still more than 40% of Android users running Android Pie 9.0 or lower.
This old school operating system is no longer getting security support from Google and vendors. Longer security support can certainly prevent hackers from attacking these old phones.
