Why the Motorola Edge 20 series will only get one major Android update

For those of you who don’t know or need a quick refresher, Motorola revealed last year that the Edge series would only get an Android upgrade and two years of security patches. This was a surprising move considering that Google’s recommended minimum for upgrades is two years. After much internet backlash, Motorola gave in and confirmed that the 2020 Edge phones would receive two upgrades.

Related: The Best Motorola Phones You Can Get

One would assume that this is where the company learned its lesson. Motorola, however, went on the record Android authority and confirmed that the Motorola Edge 20 series will not receive the same upgraded update plan as last year. Instead, the Edge 20 family will get an Android upgrade and two year patches. Basically, we’re back to where we started.

What has changed this time around is the rationale for the lack of Motorola updates. Buckle up because that’s a doozy.

Last year, Motorola’s reasoning for the lack of upgrades was due to the fact that it was doing what it thought made the most sense. Here is part of the statement that it made Wired to this topic:

We will provide support with software updates as often and for as long as we believe our customers will benefit from them. While we don’t have an absolute commitment to the number of upgrades, Edge users can expect security updates and an upgrade to Android 11 every other month [in 2020].

You can read this in a number of different ways, but I read it as, “We want to work this way, so that’s what we’re going to do.” Obviously, the online backlash has changed the company’s mind. So why does it revert to the one-only upgrade policy?

Here is what Motorola told us:

Each device has its own merits in terms of where it needs to be updated and how many updates it receives. We are committed to the one operating system update and of course we will continue to check it. If we find that the device has a longer lifecycle on the market, we will of course check whether it needs further operating system upgrades.

The keyword is “longer life cycle on the market”. What Motorola is essentially saying here is that it doesn’t feel the need to upgrade its phones past the year-long mark because you, the consumer, don’t hold onto the phone for that long.

Motorola doesn’t see its phones in the hands of buyers for long and is responding to less endorsement of those phones.

Motorola accepts its fate

Eric Zeman / Android Authority

Motorola is simply responding to these trends. It regards investing in updates as a waste of money and resources as most customers don’t care. Instead, it focuses these resources on other areas. From a business point of view, this makes sense.

The problem, of course, is that software updates may make consumers invest in their phones. If they’re thinking about dropping their phone but suddenly upgraded to the latest version of Android, they can keep it longer. This would cement their bond with the Motorola brand and help keep them with Moto the next time they buy.

Instead, Motorola is essentially accepting the idea that people keep phones for a short time and then throw them away. This is incredibly short-sighted and potentially dangerous given security risks – only two years of patches are well below the industry standard. The lack of long-term support also contributes to the e-waste problem.

However, instead of trying to win back the trust of Motorola fans, the company seems to be okay with attracting sober buyers who want a phone they don’t care enough to appreciate. This is certainly a way of responding to the poor “phone lifecycle in the market”, but at a time when more brands are raising the bar for support, it seems like I’m giving up.