Sony nixes Android updates for numerous year-old Xperia phones

BY GreenBot Staff

Published 11 Sep 2014

Bad news for some Xperia owners: Sony is cutting you out of KitKat. 

The company won’t be updating the Xperia (pictured), M, C, or Sbeyond Android 4.3 lly Bean, according to the device product pages.

Ironically, this comes just one day after Sony said some of its Z line of phones tablet would be getting Android 4.4 KitKat. 

The revelation is especially unfortunate given the devices are only about a year old. Other manufacturers, such as HTC, pledge to continue updates for up to two years. 

This illustrates that while Android offers great choice in devices, you must choose wisely if you’re interested in the latest greatest software updates. Sadly, unless you are getting a flagship phone with beefy specs big sales volume, you run the risk of a company ditching you early skimping on future updates.

The Xperia line itself is rather fragmented, with Sony’s unlocked Android phone store alone offering 16 different models. th such uncertainty over how long Sony will support a device it can make the process of choosing even more difficult.

Aboned devices fragmentation issues have been part of Apple’s marketing strategy in encouraging people to switch to the ione, as even the three-year-old ione 4S will be getting iOS 8 when it goes live this month. 

ile the Android ecosystem as a whole has made great strides against fragmentation—hello, ay Services!—putting relatively new devices out to pasture certainly won’t help battle the negative impressions.