Here is an amazing stat that you can chew over this weekend. According to StatCounter, more than 30% of Android users worldwide are running Android 13 or older on their phones. Now you must understand that this version of Google's mobile operating system was first released in 2022. This means, by one count, roughly one billion Android users are actively using a phone that has lost support from Google and cannot be patched.
Android fragmentation rears its ugly head once again
According to cybersecurity firm Zimperium, "at any given point in the year, over 50% of mobile devices are running outdated OS versions, and a significant number are compromised or infected." This is a major problem for those with an older Android phone that can no longer receive monthly security updates. For example, the recently released December Android security update patched 107 vulnerabilities. Imagine your daily driver struggling with serious software flaws and unable to receive the patch that will fix the software, and thus your phone.
Would it bother you if your phone lost software support?
Yes, absolutely.
75%
No. The chances of being the target of an attack are low,
25%
A much lower number of Apple iPhone users are presently using a model that is no longer supported by Apple. StatCounter computes that around 90% of active iPhones around the world still receive software support from Apple. Conversely, that means 10% of active iPhone units worldwide have lost support. You can blame this on the fragmentation that impacts Android. Hundreds of manufacturers build Android phones compared to the one developer that disseminates the Google Mobile Services (GMS) version of Android.
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About 30% of active Android phones worldwide have lost software support. | Image credit-StatCounter
The Android fragmentation is something we used to discuss years ago, and it remains an important issue. Security Boulevard says, "When combined with staggered rollouts, this creates a familiar but uncomfortable pattern: vulnerabilities may be known and documented yet remain exploitable on large numbers of devices until updateU fully propagate."
Losing software support on your phone is a serious matter
Unlike Android phone manufacturers, Apple can simply press a button to update all iPhones at once. With Android, an update must work with different application processors, and different phone manufacturers have different UIs that have to be accounted for. The importance of having an Android phone that receives security patches becomes obvious when attackers go after the personal data and app credentials of Android users. You don't want a cyberthief to come up with the password you use for your financial apps, do you?
Even if you think such attacks are so limited that they won't impact you, consider the words of BeyondTrust’s James Maude who told Forbes' Zak Doffman, "even though this only appears to be linked to a small number of targeted attacks, it will quickly become a must have exploit for a range of threat actors." In other words, the bad actors know exactly which phones are vulnerable and will go after those models, so if your phone has lost support, it might be time to upgrade to a new handset. It might be the best money you ever spend.
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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
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