Sony is facing a new controversy on top of the rocky history of its smartphones — a business the company doesn’t want to give up. The Japanese electronics giant has announced that the Xperia 10 VI won’t get an update to the latest version of Android, Android 17. At launch, Sony had promised three major Android updates and four years of security updates.
Sony says as much in its U.K. support section, including in reference to Germany. Caschy’s Blog reported it first. Sony’s brief statement says, somewhat vaguely, that the device’s “memory configuration” does not support an “Android 17 upgrade experience that we consider adequate”. The company doesn’t explain what that could mean for a phone with 8 GB of RAM and at least 128 GB of flash storage. At least Sony says it will honor its promise of four years of security updates.
Sony says the four-year period starts when the Xperia 10 VI was unveiled. The phone went on sale in May 2024 for about €400, so support ends in spring 2028. After that, it will only receive updates to Google Play system components as part of operating system security updates; Android itself will no longer receive updates. The phone launched with Android 14, and Android 16 is currently available for it. Since Android 17 won’t begin rolling out until mid-2026, Sony should at least be able to meet its patch commitment for that version.
Over the past few years, most smartphone makers have adopted an update policy like Sony’s. They typically promise a set number of Android updates, without specifying a time frame, along with a deadline for security updates. As a rule of thumb, the most expensive phones get new Android versions for the longest. To estimate how long a phone will remain useful, it’s best to focus on the security update period.
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This article was originally published in
German.
It was translated with technical assistance and editorially reviewed before publication.
