I owned the first CAT phone with a FLiR thermal imaging sensor and this was by far my biggest gripe. The hardware felt like it was built to last a decade or longer, but the software was chock full of vulnerabilities from day 1, and I think they only provided a few months of proper software updates. I have since (reluctantly) moved to iPhone where I expect that (with my usage) the software should outlast the hardware.

I was expecting you to say it was something from 2010. By comparison, 2021 doesn't seem half bad.

You're getting Android 12 release date confused with 11. 11 was released in Sept 2020, your point still stands however.

I mean, that was only four months ago? And someone in the thread said it launched in September, you're unlikely to get latest Android in the box a month later, unless the model is planned as part of the OS launch.

If all the niche phones don't have updates, that's probably a failing of the OS rather than the niche phones.

Somehow, Microsoft manages to get Windows updates out to everywhere and computers in stores end up having the latest OS on there. Google makes Chrome OS devices update. I think there's two or three projects that were supposed to make Android updates actually happen, but where's the pudding?

I did a project a while back with devices like these. Super rugged shell, giant battery and, in this case, a powerful IR barcode scanner. We built custom apps for warehouse workers and shut access to anything remotely fun. No mobile data or calling allowed, no internet except one hardwired wifi network that talks to shipping systems. Having an old OS is fine because they don't need to be compatible with much and security isn't a big deal because they're so locked down.