Honor and Huawei, formerly parts of the same company, have now become independent businesses through some simple combinations. And in the case of smartphone software, the difference is big and obvious. Huawei is under sanctions from the U.S. government, and therefore cannot receive full versions of the Android OS, let alone have access to monthly security updates. So to say that Huawei is able to sustain at least some sort of update regime for its smartphones is not a stretch. In fact, Huawei smartphones regularly receive only updates of the EMUI shell, which closes the issue both on new features, security and bug fixes. The duration of such support for the devices is not stipulated, but the 2019 smartphones still receive updates. What are the prospects of going out for regular Android OS updates, it is not known.

With Honor, the situation is simpler. The company is not under US sanctions and receives Google’s support in full. The update policy is standard for all smartphones regardless of their level: two years of OS updates and two years of patches. Here you could complain that such support looks quite minimal for a flagship, but if you buy a simpler device, such a policy is a plus.