How long will your device get security updates?

A device stops being useful when it stops receiving security updates, not when the hardware fails. For most modern electronics the hardware outlasts the software support, which inverts how people usually think about device lifespan.

This one date should drive most of your decisions: whether to repair, whether to buy, and what to pay.

Why it matters more than the warranty

A warranty tells you who pays if the device breaks in year one. A support window tells you how long the device is safe to use at all.

An unpatched device connected to a network accumulates known, published vulnerabilities. For a phone holding banking apps and messages, or a laptop used for work, that is a real exposure rather than a theoretical one.

How to find the date

Phones. Manufacturers now generally publish a support commitment stated in years from release, covering OS versions and security patches separately. Look for a “software update policy” or “security update” page on the manufacturer’s site, and find your exact model rather than a general brand statement — commitments have changed substantially over recent generations and older models were sold under weaker promises.

Laptops and desktops. Governed mainly by the operating system rather than the hardware manufacturer. Check the OS vendor’s published support lifecycle for your version, and separately check whether your hardware meets the requirements for the next version. A machine can be perfectly functional and still be blocked from an upgrade.

Everything else. Routers, smart home devices, TVs and wearables are the weakest area. Many never publish a support commitment at all, and support ends without announcement. Treat silence as a warning sign.

Using it as a buying criterion

Support length is a specification, and on a device you intend to keep for years it is arguably more important than a modest difference in processor or camera.

Two devices at similar prices with a multi-year difference in support commitment are not similarly priced. Divide the price by the supported years and compare that instead.

Note also that the clock generally starts at the model’s release, not at your purchase. Buying a phone two years into its cycle can mean inheriting substantially less remaining support than the headline figure suggests, which is worth weighing against the discount.

When support ends

You are not obliged to throw the device away, but you should change how you use it.

Take it off anything sensitive — banking, email, work accounts. Consider isolating it on a guest network. For laptops and desktops, a currently supported Linux distribution frequently extends useful life by years on hardware the original OS has abandoned, and for a machine used for browsing and documents this is a genuine option rather than a hobbyist one.

For phones the options are thinner. Repurposing as a dedicated device — a music player, a camera, a controller for something local — is usually more realistic than continuing to use it as a phone.

The connection to repair

This is why the repair-versus-replace question cannot be answered on price alone. A $200 repair on a device with five years of support left is a good decision. The same repair on a device with eight months left is not, however cheap the parts are.

See our repair or replace framework for how to work the numbers.