This story was originally published and last updated .
Major updates of Android don't matter as much as they used to. Many components of the operating system are updated through the Play Store, so even if you're on Android 8 or 9, you can still access most of the same apps and features as someone on the latest release of Android 10. However, the security updates that Google releases on a monthly basis are still critical to keeping your phone or tablet safe. Dozens of security flaws are discovered in components of Android each month, which is why Google releases monthly security patches.
However, unlike app and API updates, the security patches can't be delivered directly to devices — phone manufacturers have to integrate the changes into their own flavors of Android, and release them as system updates.
It's common knowledge that some companies are better than others when it comes to patching their phones, but making direct comparisons is somewhat difficult. It's hard to track down information about when exactly updates are released, so news coverage often relies on device owners seeing the update themselves. Carriers and slow rollouts only make matters more complicated.
The good news is that we've done all the hard work for you. This is our ultimate security update tracker, where we're giving each recent flagship phone a simple score from 1-10, based on how long it takes for security updates to get from Google to device owners.
If you're interested how we gather this data and assess it, we explain our methodology more on the second page. Here's the short version:
- We compiled a list of dates for security patches for each major 2019 Android flagship, starting from January 2019 or when the phone was released in the United States (whichever was earliest).
- The date for each security update is the first evidence we could find of a public rollout, either from an official announcement from the device maker, news coverage of the update, or confirmed reports from social media (whichever was earliest).
- Each device's score is calculated using a weighted average of the number of days between a security update's availability and the device's OTA being released, the resulting "score" being normalized into a number out of 10, and then a standard penalty being assessed for any given monthly update that is missed subtracting from that score.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that Google's flagships get perfect scores. Ever since the days of Nexus phones, Google has released security updates for its devices at the same time as the official security bulletins, effectively giving Pixel phones day-one updates.
Pixel phones are the only devices we've tracked that didn't miss a single month. There are a few instances where a security bulletin comes out a day or two before the Pixels get their updates, and vice-versa, but on average the delay is still zero days.
If reliable and frequent security updates are your main concern when buying a phone, Pixels have historically been the best options. However, Samsung has started to become more competitive in this area, especially with the Galaxy S20 series.
Matching Google for first place is Samsung's current flagship phone, the Galaxy S20. Granted, the phone has only been available to purchase for a few months, but Samsung has been extremely quick to update the phone so far.
The Galaxy S20 hasn't missed a single month of updates so far, and in some cases, Samsung has rolled out patches before Google's Pixels. The May 2020 update began rolling out on April 29th, and was widely available by the time the Pixel 4 was updated.
Only time will tell if Samsung can keep up its rapid release schedule, but if last year's Galaxy S10 is any indication, you probably won't ever have to worry about security patches with the S20.
While Samsung has done a well enough job of keeping its flagship smartphones up to date with the latest security patches — the Galaxy S7 is still receiving quarterly fixes — the company improved its schedule slightly with the Galaxy S10.
Not only has the S10 received security updates in a timely manner, but it was also among the first phones to receive an update to Android 10. The phone has also managed to maintain a high score for well over a year, while most competing phones from 2019 have slipped behind.
The Galaxy S10 has only missed two security updates since its release in early 2019: the patches for June and July 2019 were included in an August update. However, the S10's typical delay from when Google's security bulletins were published is the main reason it falls slightly behind other devices.
The LG V60 was released in April of this year, and for the moment, it's one of the highest ranking phones on our list. That's quite an improvement from the LG G8's dreadful score.
LG has usually been quick to release security patches for the V60, but the schedule has been inconsistent so far. The phone didn't receive the May or June updates at all, but the following July update arrived right on time.
Sony's latest flagship is the Xperia 1 II, also known as the Xperia 1 Mark II. It became available in the United States in late July for a cool $1,198. For the moment, it has earned a much higher score than last year's Xperia 1.
The Xperia 1 II hasn't skipped a single month of updates so far, but the patches are still a bit late compared to Google Pixel phones and the Galaxy S20. Still, if Sony can maintain a monthly schedule, that will already be an improvement over the original Xperia 1.
The Nokia 9 PureView is the closest thing HMD Global had to a flagship Android device in 2019 (Nokia's product lines have a lot of overlap), and even though the phone suffered from camera and fingerprint reader bugs when it launched, the PureView's security update record has been fairly good good.
According to our data, the PureView has only skipped one month since its release. The May 2019 patch was never rolled out (Nokia combined it with the June patches), but that's the only exception so far.
While there were a few instances of Nokia rolling out the update in the first week of the month, most patches were released around two weeks later. For example, the February 2020 update rolled out on February 24th, the December 2019 patches were released on December 31st, and so on.
The OnePlus 8 Pro hasn't been out for very long, but it has already slipped to a score of 6.5/10 on our scale. That's higher than last year's OnePlus 7 Pro and 7T Pro, but it could still fall lower in the coming months.
The OnePlus 8 Pro has only skipped one month of updates since release, which is already an improvement from the bi-monthly schedule of other OnePlus devices. However, most patches are are typically delivered several weeks after Pixels get them.
Even though the Zenfone 6 doesn't have an incredible score, it does narrowly beat out devices that are often perceived as providing more frequent updates, like phones from OnePlus.
The Zenfone 6 was something of a turning point for Asus' mobile division when it was released last year. It great device in its own right, as we highlighted in our review, but Asus also made frequent updates a higher priority. It has since been succeeded by the Zenfone 7 and 7 Pro.
Asus ROG Phone 3: 5.5
The ROG Phone II has sat near (or at) the bottom of this list since it was released, and unfortunately, it looks like its successor isn't going to fare much better. Even though the ROG Phone 3 has only been available for a few months, it's already dropped to a 5.5/10 on our scale.
According to data straight from Asus' support website, the ROG Phone 3 has only received two security updates so far. The July 2020 patch started rolling out on July 28th, and the August 2020 update wasn't published until September 29th.
Motorola released its first flagship smartphone in years, the Edge+, this past May. It hasn't been available long, so we don't have an extensive data set available yet, but Motorola is already off to a rough start.
The Edge+ shipped with the March 2020 security patch, and the first update with the April 2020 patch arrived over a month late on May 13th. The June 2020 patch landed much quicker on June 11th, and August fixes arrived nearly two months late on September 25th.
Since its US release in early 2019, Sony's Xperia 1 has skipped quite a few security updates. In general, updates were delivered on a bi-monthly basis, but the phone did go three months without an update during one period.
Sony skipped the July and August 2019 patches for the Xperia 1, but the phone finally was updated in September. The phone has only missed a single month of updates since March 2020, but the patches are usually still delivered late. For example, the June 2020 update took 17 days, and the August 2020 release took 38 days.
OnePlus is typically praised for its quick updates, so this score for the company's final 2019 flagship might come as a surprise to many of you. However, as the old saying goes, the data doesn't lie.
The 7T Pro was released only a few months before the coronavirus outbreak began in China, where OnePlus and other Chinese OEMs functioned at limited capacity. The 7T Pro didn't get its January security update until February 14th, for example. Since then, the update schedule has been more consistent, but still only bi-monthly (and usually 2-3 weeks after Pixels).
It's worth noting that OnePlus does have an Open Beta program, where device owners can receive updates before they are ready for prime time, but that can come with bugs and other consequences.
The OnePlus 7 Pro has been available since mid-2019, but for the moment, it gets the same dreadful score as the newer 7T Pro. The company's tagline of "Never Settle" might need some revision.
Like other phones from OnePlus, the 7 Pro typically skips every other month, and (on average) receives patches several weeks after they are released. For example, the May 2020 patch took 24 days to roll out, and the July patch didn't appear on the OnePlus 7 Pro until August 4th.
I know this will come as a total shock to many of you, but LG is not good at updates. The company's mainstream 2019 flagship, the G8 ThinQ, has skipped several months of patches and has a high average delay.
However, there is one major caveat to our data on the G8: we're using rollout dates for the AT&T model, because there isn't enough public data about the US unlocked version. The added step of carrier approval could be adding some delay, but the frequency of patches is the G8's primary issue. There were no updates at all from late September 2019 until mid-February 2020 — and the February update only had the December patches.
Asus has offered frequent and quick updates for its main flagship, the ZenFone 6, but that same attention has not carried over to the company's 2019 gaming phone. Not only has the ROG Phone II earned the lowest score on this list, but it also has the longest average delay between updates of any phone we're tracking.
The phone had an extended gap in security updates while Asus was working on its Android 10 update. The ROG Phone II didn't receive the October 2019 patch until November of that year, and it remained on that patch level until the Android 10 update rolled out in March 2020.
Since then, the ROG Phone II has typically gone two months between security updates, and they still usually show up very late. For example, the April 2020 patch wasn't released until May 13th. It has been succeeded by the ROG Phone 3.
Motorola has a known history of being extremely late with software updates, unless you happen to live in South America (where the company tends to focus its resources). As such, the Moto Z4's position near the bottom of this list probably isn't much of a surprise.
The Moto Z4 has an average update delay of over a month. However, it's more likely for Z4 owners to not get an update at all. The Z4's first update came in mid-July (containing May patches), then there were no updates at all until mid-November. Oh, and the November update was two months behind in security patches.
We plan to keep this guide updated as each new month passes. See the second page for info on how we're dealing with factors like regions, staged rollouts, calculating dates, and more methodological info.
Special thanks to The Android Soul, Xperia Blog, SamMobile, and 9to5Google for covering some of the device updates we would have otherwise missed.
This story was originally published and last updated .
Ranking devices by their record with security updates turned out to be a bit difficult. There are many variables to consider, including different rollout dates for different countries, delays with carrier models compared to their unlocked equivalents (though Samsung and other OEMs sometimes update their unlocked devices later), and availability of first-hand information.
While some companies make public announcements the day an update starts to roll out — for example, OnePlus publishes a forum post for each update — most do not. That means we have rely on user reports from social media (Twitter, Reddit, etc.) and independent news coverage to find dates for releases. Most of our data about the Sony Xperia 1 came from XperiaBlog, for instance.
With those factors in mind, we decided to narrow the scope of this article and set reasonable guidelines.
First, we trimmed our data to focus on rollout dates for devices in the United States. Most Android phone manufacturers have different update schedules for different regions, but because most of our readership is based in the US, using data about how quickly Motorola released an update to a phone in Brazil wouldn't be helpful. In some instances, the reports didn't specify what region the rollout occurred in (especially with information posted to Reddit/Twitter), but if we found evidence that the US release occurred on a different date, we looked for data elsewhere.
Second, we're tracking rollout dates for the carrier-unlocked variants of each phone, except where otherwise specified. We're well aware that most people in the United States buy their phones directly from a carrier, but taking into account the independent delays that each carrier adds to the update process would have made the data less concise and helpful.
Third, the starting date for each patch is when Google published the Android Security Bulletin. Near the start of each month, Google releases a public page about the fixes included in that month's security update. The publishing date of the bulletin is the baseline date we use to calculate the delay for each device. Google usually provides code for security updates to OEMs a while before the page goes live, but considering the publish date is when the general public becomes aware of the patched bugs, it's a good place to start.
Fourth, the data we've collected for each device starts in January 2019, or when the phone was released (whichever comes last). For example, even though the Pixel 3 was released in late 2018, we're only looking at updates released since January 2019. We're also not penalizing skipped months if the phone wasn't released yet in that month.
Finally, we're only looking at the flagship devices of each major phone manufacturer that releases phones in the US. We're well aware that Xiaomi, Oppo, and other companies exist, but including phones from every major global phone maker is simply too much for us to keep track of at this time.
All that is to say there is a little bit of wiggle room in our results. It's possible the Twitter report of an update was posted a few days after the actual rollout began, or the vast majority of phone owners received a certain update much later because the rollout was paused.
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Android security update tracker, October 2020: Rankings for popular smartphones - Android Police
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