Germany pushes for phone manufacturers to offer seven years of support

[nismo91]

It's 0.01% exactly because old phones are not supported, it would be higher it they were. If phone companies ramp up prices then just don't buy them at those prices. I'll say it doesn't have to be 7 years, but maybe 4-5 would be reasonable.

well, who's to say they will not jack up the price of the lower end device to "offset" the cost of the extended support? I'm not talking only about the flagship. I'm also talking about $100 and $200 new phones. won't people want nice and affordable new android phone? I'm pretty sure 5 or 7 years of support will never be associated with the term affordable.

I am not sure if Germany or EU actually thought through before asking manufacturers to extend support. 5 years is a quite a long time, and 7 is very long. While on the surface, it seems that consumers will benefit from it, but in actual fact, if this comes to past, consumers will just pay more upfront for their devices. Longer support is a liability and cost to the manufacturers. And since this is specific to the EU, it is not impossible for them to sell the devices there at a price that will cover for the cost of support.

well said, exactly my point.

 

[ypsylon]

EU already has highest prices for electronics in the World. If this is made rule in Germany at least prices will go up even further.

Problem is that politicians are as always detached from the reality. 7yo phone is antique by any standard. Every year new platforms are developed (apps/payment systems/id etc...) for phones, but old phones become increasingly obsolete as times go by.

Phones or computers are not like cars. 7 yo car will perform about the same for the duration of the life. That is not the case in IT. As process nodes continue to shrink and efficiency comes always major part you can't force 7yo support for a node which is ancient history by IT standards. That's like requesting 32nm support now for replacement CPUs. It doesn't make any sense. And true fact is that even getting 3 years of real support from manufacturers is tall order, because they will find every detail to screw the customer.

I love EU as an idea, but I sincerely hope so this will never pass even in Germany-alone. Time for them to stop making life miserable for people. Stop straightening bananas and cucumbers and focus on for example on global renewal energy policy across whole block where transferring renewable energy between states will be free. We are in this together, aren't we? Reduce the f* VAT at least by half, taxes killing the EU. I'm incurable idealist.

 

[cliffordcooley]

I'm not convinced this will effect the price all that much. The majority of users will inevitably have an unplanned drop test destroying their phone. So looking at the big picture of consumer percentages, not much will actually change.

 

[James Ryan]

Good! But I'd settle for 5. That's about how long a battery seems to stay within useful limits on most devices. I haven't really had issues with hardware slowdown etc. But I don't use my phone for much more than basic apps and tasks. Gaming is useless on phones.

 

[DZillaXx]

I'd say 5 years is really what it should be. 7 would make sense for flagship devices even going back 3-4 years. Flagship android devices that are about 4 years old really would have no problem keeping up with todays workloads. IMO that was around the time both high end Android Devices as well as non SE iPhones still standout as a very usable devices. iPhones before the 6s didn't have much RAM, and 7 Plus having 3GB really helped in terms of long life usability. In that regard something like a Samsung Note 8 still feels like a modern smart phone, and if it wasn't for the old version of Android the Note 7 would still feel like a solid phone.

I still rock the Note 9, but sadly the Phone is now on its EOL firmware and will not receive another Android Update. Which is a shame for a High End device from a few years ago that easily continues to feel like a modern smartphone. It is a device that really should get at least one more major Android update. But sadly Samsung has set the bar pretty low when it comes to long term support.

 

[DZillaXx]

EU already has highest prices for electronics in the World. If this is made rule in Germany at least prices will go up even further.

Problem is that politicians are as always detached from the reality. 7yo phone is antique by any standard. Every year new platforms are developed (apps/payment systems/id etc...) for phones, but old phones become increasingly obsolete as times go by.

Phones or computers are not like cars. 7 yo car will perform about the same for the duration of the life. That is not the case in IT. As process nodes continue to shrink and efficiency comes always major part you can't force 7yo support for a node which is ancient history by IT standards. That's like requesting 32nm support now for replacement CPUs. It doesn't make any sense. And true fact is that even getting 3 years of real support from manufacturers is tall order, because they will find every detail to screw the customer.

I love EU as an idea, but I sincerely hope so this will never pass even in Germany-alone. Time for them to stop making life miserable for people. Stop straightening bananas and cucumbers and focus on for example on global renewal energy policy across whole block where transferring renewable energy between states will be free. We are in this together, aren't we? Reduce the f* VAT at least by half, taxes killing the EU. I'm incurable idealist.

Just likes computers of old phone hardware really did plateau in the last few years. Its not that they don't continue to get faster, its just that it is getting really hard to notice these different in normal workloads.

Which is why a 10 year old laptop with an SSD has no problem being fast and snappy with windows 10. Hell with a new battery said 10 year old laptop has decent battery life too. Before upgrading the wife to a new M1 Macbook Air she was rocking my old work laptop, an Ivy Bridge Dell Latitude with an upgraded SSD and 8GB of RAM. Also tossed in a Wireless AC card about 6 years ago. Battery was replace few months before I retired the device and just took it home. Still has no problem getting upwards of 4 hours on battery, and feels like a modern machine performance wise. Just a big chunky laptop otherwise.

Same can be said from phones even 4 years ago. They had the CPU power and RAM for modern general tasks and the storage systems in those phone were quick so the phones still seem responsive to this day. Which is why the iPhone 7plus and Note 8 still feel like modern phones performance wise, but the Note 8 will quickly start feeling dated with its older version of android.

 

[Danny101]

Nice idea, although I doubt most phones would last that long.