Christine has been working as a professional writer for two decades. She began her career at a tech trade magazine, where she played an integral role in launching a consumer publication and two distinct websites.
With its latest devices, Google offers a market-leading seven years of software and security updates, extending the life of the phones longer than users would likely want to hold onto them anyway. This presumably ensures the experience remains up to date with fresh features through regular Pixel Drops.
It also keeps the phones secure with patches necessary to protect private data. But the seven-year upgrade only started with the Pixel 8 series launched in 2023. So, if you're holding onto an older Pixel device, you are nearing the expiration of software and security updates.series users still have close to two years, though, with support until October 2027. While the Google Pixel 6 technically still gets updates, they're less consistent and don't contain a lot of the new features. Instead, the company prioritizes its newer phones. So, while Google isn't discontinuing support for the Pixel 6 yet, don't expect every new feature or UI overhaul to completely make its way.Google has issued several updates, which it calls Pixel Drops, since the Pixel 6 launched. There have been many already this year, including the latest. But not all of these made their way to the Google Pixel 6. That phone, in fact, has not received an update in several months, while the Google Pixel 7 has been left out in the cold for the new November 2025 update. Google has historically issued monthly updates for its devices, and while the Pixel 6 will be supported with those security patches until October 2026, it may receive them every month. After all, Google only confirms the number of years of updates and not the frequency with which they will be rolled out. There's also no promise of getting all features included in a drop. In fact, Google's own documentation confirms that the five years of OS and security updates only"may" include"new and upgraded features with Pixel Drops." May, not will.So far, the Google Pixel 6 has received the June 2025 update, which brought Android 16, but it did not receive the July 2025 and August 2025 updates. It did receive the September 2025 update, but hasn't had anything since. Based on this, one can assume that the phone may get quarterly updates through October 2026 with only necessary feature upgrades. The Pixel 7, which should be supported through October 2027, did receive all the aforementioned updates with the exception of the November one at the time of this writing. The most important thing to note is that the phone will receive necessary security updates, so you're still getting a safe experience. But from an experiential point of view, you're not necessarily getting a fresh user experience with the Pixel 6 anymore as the device nears the end of its support life. How valuable, then, are the few extra years of phone support Google offers now on newer phones? If the same holds true for new devices with seven years of updates, by year six, you might want to consider weighing your options for an upgrade to a newer model.
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