Smartphones make our lives easier in almost every way. They allow us to hail a cab, order dinner, shop for groceries, and look up the information that you had in your head 2 seconds ago and lost. With all that computing power, one would think that security updates should be a top priority as our phones probably have more information than our desktops or laptops. Where most desktops and laptop operating systems are patched monthly, most phones aren't patched nearly as often, if ever. Phone manufacturers have had the say of which phones they create will get security patches. Most of the time only the top market share of their phones are the ones that get the patches in the most timely ways. All of that is about to change.
The Verge recently reported that they were able to get their hands on a new contract for OEMs from Google, the creator of the Android OS. The contract stated that if they wanted to remain a Certified Android OEM they would have to provide at the minimum security patch updates for every device they make at least 4 times a year. While that may not seem like a lot, I would say you are right, but with all the devices being produced by all the different OEMs, rolling out a patch for every phone can be very tricky. Unlike an OS like Windows, where the OS code isn't dependent on the hardware firmware running on the machine, most android phones are. Still I think a patch every 90 days is better than nothing, especially for all the budget-friendly model phones.
Read more from The Verge below.