Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login
Samsung drops security updates for some devices, demotes others to quarterly (androidpolice.com)
3 points by jaytaylor on Oct 8, 2019 | hide | past | favorite | 2 comments



From TFA:

Now imagine this - you buy a computer from an OEM, with its OS on top of the hardware. It's a good PC, fast, snappy, powerful and you paid $5k for it. 2 years later the OEM stops updating the OS, because its shareholders request higher revenue and the OEM can't charge you for what you already own so it needs to look for other means to get money from you. Everything is fine with your PC, it's still blazing fast and does everything it's intended to, but as of now, any kind of security bug might compromise your device, your home network, your work network and may result in you loosing your money, other property or even your entire identity, which in extreme situations can lead to death. Just because the OEM wants your money. And you can't just update the OS and be safe again, you need to buy new hardware, because the OEM decided that his new OS won't support his old hardware.

This is what we allow them to do to us.


Samsung has a history of giving up on updates for devices, I commented recently elsewhere on HN how this is the reason I wont buy Samsung anymore; to name a couple: My SmartTV dropped after 1 year (no Java updates since 2013, yay!), and two Android phones dropped 1.5-2years after purchase...granted, one of them wasn't upgradable to the next major Android release, but they still stopped security patches regardless




Consider applying for YC's Fall 2025 batch! Applications are open till Aug 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: