The Dutch consumer association Consumentenbond applied the lastest manufacturer’s updates on 171 Android smartphones that it had acquired over the last two years. It found only one in six of the updated phones were running Android 5.0, released last November, or a newer version. Half of the phones, even after updating, still ran a version two years old (Android 4.3), or older, which have known security flaws.
The Dutch consumer association Consumentenbond, which carried out the tests, said "We believe that consumers are entitled to a reliable and safe device,” but the issue should concern developers, providers of e-commerce services and enterprise IT teams delivering services to a mobile workforce.
Manufacturers differ in how they keep the Android software in their phones up to date.
More than half the Huawei Technologies phones tested were running Android 4.3 or lower, while the rest ran 4.4. This compares to five of eight Motorola
Mobility smartphones tested by the association, which ran Android 5.0 or 5.1.
