HMD Global will not be solely reneging on its promise to convey Android 11 to the Nokia 9 PureView, however it is usually dangling a reduction for a brand new telephone at prospects who simply came upon their present units are now not supported.

These are prospects who paid between $599 and $699 for the premium Nokia 9 PureView again in 2019 after it made fairly a splash with its quintuple rear digital camera array at World Mobile Congress that yr. At the time, Nokia was even referred to as the very best telephone model for receiving quick software program updates, in accordance with Counterpoint Research, so prospects understandably might need felt they might belief Nokia and HMD Global.

As one of many units within the Android One program, the Nokia 9 PureView runs a near-stock model of Android 9 and is meant to get at the very least two years of OS upgrades and three years of safety updates. Although the telephone received upgraded to Android 10 in December 2019, it has not acquired some other OS updates since.

HMD Global stated it’s unable to replace the Nokia 9 PureView with Android 11 as a result of “[i]ncompatibilities between the digital camera and the software program would have led to a compromised expertise that doesn’t meet our excessive requirements,“ in accordance with its assertion. Perhaps as a result of its quintuple cameras had been co-developed with Light, the digital camera firm that has give up smartphone images, HMD Global simply can’t overcome this technical problem. That stated, the corporate stated the telephone will proceed to obtain safety updates.

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

Rather than let present homeowners commerce of their now-unsupported units, HMD Global comes throughout as attempting to revenue on these affected prospects by asking them to purchase a brand new Nokia telephone. “[F]or those of you looking to make the jump to Android 11,” in accordance with its web site for Nokia 9 PureView homeowners, “we’re offering a 50% discount on Nokia XR20, or another device depending on regional availability.” First of all, the midrange Nokia XR 20 is hardly an alternative to the premium Nokia 9 PureView, and that you must soar by way of some hoops simply to get that low cost.

At a time when Android telephone makers try to distinguish themselves by modeling after Apple’s four-year-plus software program help for iPhones, circumstances like HMD Global backpedaling on the Nokia 9 PureView’s replace simply remind us to not take these guarantees too severely. Bigger corporations like Samsung might need extra sources to ship on 4 years of safety updates for its big portfolio of units, however smaller outfits like HMD Global and Motorola just don’t have a good track record. While software program help is one thing to contemplate when making a telephone shopping for choice — particularly after we’re holding onto our telephones longer between improve cycles — it shouldn’t be the deciding issue for an Android as a result of it simply won’t occur.