TL; DR
- Microsoft has announced that the Surface Duo 2 will receive three years of operating system and security updates.
- The company also announced that the original model would get Android 11 before the end of 2021.
Microsoft unveiled the Surface Duo 2 earlier this week, which on paper is a massive upgrade over the original model. But what can be expected with software updates? Now the Redmond company has given us an answer.
“We aim to provide operating system and security updates for three years,” said a Microsoft representative Android authority in response to a question about update commitments for the Surface Duo 2.
The statement is in line with what the company said about the original Surface Duo. In any case, the promise for the Surface Duo line means that Microsoft is part of a wave of Android brands stepping up their game for operating system updates (e.g. Samsung, OnePlus, Oppo). Samsung can’t quite keep up with security patches as the Korean manufacturer offers four years of security updates, but the overall commitment is good news nonetheless.
Microsoft also confirmed Android authority that it is working on bringing Android 11 to the first Surface Duo “before the end of this year”. This is a little disappointing considering that Android 12 is likely to hit the market in the next month or two. So we hope the company picks up the pace and ships Android 12 to both models in a short amount of time.
Nonetheless, the Surface Duo 2 looks like a pretty compelling flagship from a hardware standpoint. The dual screen foldable phone now has a Snapdragon 888 SoC, 5G, NFC, a larger battery, and a flexible triple rear camera setup. All of this makes for a significant upgrade over the original model, which felt dated and overpriced when it was launched.