LG has quietly updated their Security Bulletins page on their support site, dropping support for several older G-Series phones with the September update. The G3, G4, G4 Stylus and LG Stylo have all been removed from the support list meaning that it is highly unlikely they will be getting updates going forward.
That isn’t too surprising. The G3 for example was released in May 2014 so the fact that the company was providing updates to it at all some 3 years down the road was impressive.
As you would expect, all of their mid-2015 phones and up are still on the support list. That includes the following:
- G series (G5, G6)
- V series(V10, V20, V30)
- Q Series(Q6, Q8)
- X Series(X300, X400, X500, X cam)
It is likely that LG, like other manufactures, will slowly start peeling off older devices it supports over the next few quarters. I recommend that if you are an owner of one of the devices above that you bookmark the Security Bulletin page so you can keep tabs on when support ends for your phone.
Finally, as most long time Android users will know, manufactures can determine how long they want to support a particular device. Google doesn’t regulate this although they suggest at least two years, the same they provide for their own phones. The rule of thumb for those new to Android is that after two years, just about every phone is going to be dropped from ongoing support.
