Motorola keeps growing but Android update segregation keeps being a thing

Motorola managed to gobble up LG's market share in the US with a rare combination of value-for-money handsets, including its flagship and foldable phone lines. It just gives a little more something for the money, such as a bigger screen than Samsung on its Razr clamshell phones with foldable display, or higher refresh rate displays than anyone, all at very affordable prices.

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That's not even mentioning its lineup of affordable budget or midrange handsets that it manages to set apart from the competition with perks like extraordinary battery life, or stylus editions that don't break the bank, all in the sub-$500 and even the sub-$300 segment.

Where Motorola doesn't shine, though, at least compared to the brands it now has to strive to catch up with in the US - Samsung or Apple - is its middling Android software and security updates rhythm. It's not that it is an outlier in terms of security update frequency - its budget phones get 2 years of security patches, and its midrangers and flagships are on a 3-year or 4-year scheme like so many other brands out there - but the new Android versions may take an year or so to arrive.

Ever since Google announced that it will offer that many years of Android version and security updates to its own Pixel line of phones to set it apart from the competitors, they seemingly took notice. By competitors, we mainly mean Samsung, as it is now on a confirmed four Android version upgrades and five years of security patches cadence. 

The undisputed champ is, of course, Google, as it should be. "We’re committing to providing seven years of software support for the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, including the latest Android operating system, security updates and ongoing Feature Drops," it announced, despite that previous such efforts failed to boost its market share in the US in any meaningful way. As the Android gatekeeper, however, it has to lead the way and inspire others to become better in terms of software support, too.

Motorola offers 2 year of patches for its budget phones, 3 for most of its other handsets, and 4 years of security updates for select models from the foldable Razr line that competes with Samsung directly. This seems like a smart strategy in terms of resource balance, and is close to what everyone else in its brand category is doing in reality, if not in promises.

If it wants to take on Samsung in the US, however, it may apply a bit more resources to make its phones competitive not only with their specs-for-price ratio, but also by added intangible value with features like software update frequency.

If you ask the average phone owner in the US what the promised software update count that comes with their phones is, they wouldn't know or really care. Apple and Samsung hold the vast majority of the market here and they both have such generous software support schedules that their owners have mostly forgotten that such a worry may exist.

In general, however, updates are important for many reasons beyond simply bringing new features to your phone. Software updates also fetch security reactions that patch the code present on your phone against the vulnerability du jour, unleashed with malicious intent to farm your information or straight out hack and steal. Banking and payment apps also check for the latest security patches and if your phone is too far behind they might stop functioning.

Yes, software support has now become one of the biggest Android phone segregation issues as even some brand-name handsets offer one version upgrade and two years of security patches. Brands often cite the software update schedule they keep for their flagships, but when you go down the portfolio, the update system become patchier and less frequent. While some shining cities on the software update hill are pushing on the 5-7 years support scheme, most are on 2-3 years, with only select handsets being guaranteed more.

Should Motorola offer more frequent updates to set itself apart from the rest in the value-for-money category? It could. Does it have to? Not really, since its market share is growing as it is. Besides, its update schedule doesn't seem to bother its fans too much and preclude people from buying its phones.

If Motorola wants to take on the most popular Android vendor in the US, but its 2022 Moto Edge flagship is just now getting last year's Android 13 version, just a bit of extra update cadence effort may go a long way to raise its profile in the battle with the Apple-Samsung duopoly, be it for old brand name times sake.

What do you think, would the fact that Motorola phones have a lesser software support scheme than Samsung or Apple make you pause before snatching one of its great value phones in the upcoming 2024 roster?