When Moto phones were being released under the Motorola brand, many people bought them simply because they had a plain version of stock Android that received software updates quickly and always ran the latest version of the operating system. Now, the Moto brand is under Lenovo’s control, and slow updates to older phones have led to questions about the company’s commitment to timely updates.
It looks like Lenovo may not be issuing Google’s monthly security updates as quickly as before. The company finally released a security patch for the Moto X Pure a few days ago, after three months of not releasing any security updates. As such, the phone is still running with out-of-date software that’s missing more recent security patches. It’s unclear whether this trend toward slowing updates will cross over to Lenovo’s new Moto Z and Moto G4 smartphones.
A recent review of the Moto Z from Ars Technica cites a statement from Lenovo saying that the Moto Z will not be getting monthly security patches. We reached out to Lenovo to get clarification on updates for Moto phones.
“Moto Z and Moto Z Force as well as the Moto G Family will be supported with patches from Android Security Bulletins. They will receive an update shortly after launch with additional patches,” a representative told Digital Trends in an email.
Lenovo says that the phones will get security patches, but there’s no word as to how often users will get them or how up-to-date the security patches will be. Access to timely security patches and software updates is of the utmost importance, especially with the rise of dangerous hacks like Stagefright and Heartbleed. Unfortunately, most Android manufacturers don’t have a good track record with updates and carriers often slow down the process with their own conditions.
