OnePlus 8, OnePlus Nord End-Of-Life Dates Revealed

Because they don't require physical components or production, software is relatively easier to produce, maintain, and support compared to hardware. In theory and ideally, software can be supported almost indefinitely, as long as there are people who have knowledge and time to do. Human resources, however, aren't infinite and Android manufacturers have unofficially agreed to a software support period of two years. This year has seen a slight shift in that regard and OnePlus just published the official EOL dates for some of its 2020 smartphones.

This EOL of end-of-life doesn't mean the phones will stop working beyond those dates, of course. It simply means that OnePlus will no longer be pushing security updates after the phones reach those deadlines. That pretty much means users will have to fend for themselves as they will be at risk from vulnerabilities and bugs discovered from that point onward.

Like almost all Android phone makers, OnePlus started with two-year software support for its phones. This year, it joined Google and, surprisingly, Samsung, in committing to three years of software support, but with some caveats. In a nutshell, OnePlus's support page reveals that the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro will receive their last security update on April 2023 while the OnePlus Nord ends on July 2023.

Where things get a bit tricky is in what kind of updates are supported as those dates only refer to the regular monthly security updates. The OnePlus 8 series have been promised three major Android OS updates while the OnePlus Nord will get only two. The OnePlus Nord N10 and N100 have it worse, though, as they get only one Android OS update and two years of security updates.

Although an improvement, this is still a far cry from Apple's practice of supporting even five-year-old phones. Hopefully, things will improve in Android land once Google's various frameworks, like Project Treble and Project Mainline, become more ingrained in all phones.