No, Sony's Xperia 1 III won't be limited to just one Android update

Late last week, a report suggested that Sony's latest flagship smartphone - the Xperia 1 III - would only receive one major software update, but now the company has confirmed to TechRadar that won't be the case.

According to Sony, it intends to further update the phone after Android 12 has been brought to the smartphone. A spokesperson for Sony Mobile told TechRadar, "It is not correct that Xperia 1 III will have only one Android OS update.

"Sony aims to support Xperia 1 III with the latest Android updates for two years after its launch and we expect to have Android OS updates more than once during that period."

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Last week's report came from Sony's team in The Netherlands where it told DroidApp that its Xperia 1 III would be restricted to just one major software update and two years of security updates.

Although Sony's clarification doesn't go so far as to commit to a certain number of updates, or talk about security updates, it's positive news for those who are intending to buy Sony's latest smartphone when it's released on August 19 in the US and UK.

What is Sony's Android update history like?

Sony is neither the best nor the worst Android manufacturer for supporting its smartphones. For reference, its Xperia 1 and Xperia 1 II flagship smartphones from 2019 and 2020 respectively are upgradable to the latest Android 11.

The company has yet to confirm whether Android 12 will be coming to either of those devices, but we'd expect it to at least come to the Xperia 1 II.

Sony's flagship phone from 2018 - the Xperia XZ3 - is the last top-end device from the company that isn't running the latest in Android software, and support for that handset ended with Android 10.

Android manufacturers are still struggling to update older devices to the latest Android software, but we've heard rumblings of better support for devices from Google, Samsung, OnePlus and Oppo. Hopefully this is a sign of similar support from Sony.