Android 10 is coming to the six-year-old Fairphone 2

Sustainable smartphone producer Fairphone has launched an Android 10 replace for the six-year-old Fairphone 2, a tool that initially launched with Android 5 in 2015. The replace is in beta in the intervening time, however the firm says it hopes to launch a secure model early subsequent yr. Alongside it, the corporate additionally plans to begin beta testing an Android 11 replace for the 2019 Fairphone 3 and 2020 Fairphone 3 Plus.

Although getting an Android replace two years after its unique launch wouldn’t usually be trigger for celebration, it’s principally remarkable for an Android producer to nonetheless be updating a handset six years after its unique launch. Only Apple comes shut to those sorts of assist durations and not too long ago launched its newest iOS 15 replace for the 2015 iPhone 6S.

Meanwhile, Samsung provides 4 years of safety updates and three generational Android updates for its latest telephones. Google has promised to offer safety updates for its newest Pixel 6 gadgets for 5 years and Android model updates for 3 years.

Offering updates for this size of time isn’t straightforward, as Fairphone defined in a weblog submit when it launched its public beta of Android 9 working on the Fairphone 2. One of the larger challenges is that the chipset producer Fairphone makes use of, Qualcomm, solely provides assist for its processors for a sure variety of years. As of last December, Qualcomm helps its chips for 3 main OS updates and 4 years of safety updates. However, as soon as this assist ends, producers like Fairphone are on their very own in the event that they wish to proceed protecting their telephones up to date.

For the Fairphone 2’s Android 10 replace, the corporate says it collaborated with its neighborhood to hurry up the replace course of. Together with assist from Indian software program developer Bharath Ravi Prakash, Fairphone says the Fairphone 2’s Android 10 replace took simply 10 months to develop, in comparison with 18 months for Android 9.

Today’s information can be welcome for anybody nonetheless utilizing a Fairphone 2 who desires to profit from Android 10 options like gesture navigation and assist for an OS-level darkish mode. But it’s additionally reassuring for anybody occupied with selecting up its newest cellphone, the Fairphone 4, which the corporate hopes to maintain supported for six years till 2027.