In order to comply with new UK government regulations, Apple has revealed that its latest iPhones will receive security updates for at least five years.
The UK’s consumer connectable product security regime, which came into effect on April 29, 2024, includes the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure (PSTI) Act, and the Security Requirements for Relevant Connectable Products.
The security requirements businesses must comply with include setting unique passwords or allowing users to define their own passwords, providing information on how security issues can be reported, and specifying a minimum period for which security updates will be delivered for their products.
In response, Apple has shared a document which specifies that iPhones released after September 2023 (when the iPhone 15 came out), running iOS version 17 and later, will receive security updates for a minimum of five years.
Dave Kleidermacher, a Google VP of engineering for Android security and privacy, pointed out that Apple’s security update commitment period is shorter than the one of Google and Samsung, both of which have promised to deliver security updates for seven years for their flagship Android-based devices.
“For years, iPhone was known as having a longer security support lifetime than Android. Yet Apple never actually committed to a minimum support lifetime at purchase. Thanks to the UK government’s PSTI regulation […], Apple has finally published a purchase-time commitment – 5 years – two years LESS than Android flagships from Google (Pixel) and Samsung,” Kleidermacher said.
“Apple deserves a lot of credit for providing 5+ years of security updates for a long time. But now it’s time to acknowledge iOS is no longer offering the best security lifetimes in the smartphone industry. Android is,” he added.
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