this is what’s going on

June 20, 2021 Luisa Rey

Over the past few weeks, we at DroidApp have received several messages from readers. They were about Nokia’s faltering update policy. DroidApp has investigated; what is going on?

Nokia’s faltering update policy

HMD Global releases devices under the Nokia name and scores very well on paper when it comes to rolling out updates. The majority of the portfolio of devices is equipped with Android One. This entails an extra guarantee for consumers. Android One devices are updated for two years with Android OS updates and for three years with monthly security updates.

In recent months, however, there has been a hitch in the updates from Nokia. Several devices had to wait much longer for an update than before. Richard has reported to us several times that he was still running the February security patch in May. Other users such as Wim, Han and Jan also reported delayed updates to us.

Updates were left behind for, as far as we know, almost all devices. The updates were not forthcoming for the Nokia 5.3, Nokia 5.4 and Nokia X20, among others; also the most recent device introduced by HMD Global. An update schedule from Nokia appeared in October 2020. Fourteen devices would be updated to Android 11. Times passed and Android version updates were not forthcoming. In May of this year, Nokia came up with a new update schedule, without further explanation as to why the update to Android 11 was later. This quarter Android 11 must still be available for a lot of devices, and it is unclear whether the originally Finnish manufacturer will make it.

Nokia 5.4 back cover

Nokia’s response

In response to all the signals we received from readers (thanks for that!), DroidApp has contacted Nokia. We wondered what the reason is for the lack of monthly updates. Would Nokia meanwhile, without publicizing it, adopt a different update policy, or is there something else going on?

HMD Global largely reassures us. The response to HMD Global’s DroidApp is as follows;

“Security is a core business of HMD Global – they are one of the few manufacturers to offer monthly security updates for many devices in the portfolio and not just the high-end ones. A large range that needs to be updated. A recent change in requirements to ensure a better user experience for customers adds complexity to development and testing, causing a one-month delay in security updates for Nokia X20 and Nokia 5.3. We are working hard to resolve this and HMD Global expects to be able to resume normal activity from July.”

The cause seems to be due to changed requirements for updates. This causes a delay in the rollout of the updates. Not only for the Nokia X20 and Nokia 5.3, but also for the other Nokia devices that are equipped with Android One. The good news; If everything goes according to plan, the updates will be rolled out again at the usual pace from July.