Motorola's Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 with 2 GB of RAM and Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, went up for preorder at the end of June and shipped earlier this month. The company's Moto Z Droid and Moto Z Force Droid, on the other hand, are Verizon-exclusive smartphones with more powerful specifications, but will also come with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow.
Users who are concerned about the security that their smartphones provide, however, may want to hold off on acquiring these smartphones.
In a review on the Moto Z, Ars Technica said the smartphone will not receive monthly security updates for Android released by Google. Motorola has not made this information available anywhere, but when the media outlet asked Motorola representatives at a launch event for the Moto Z, they said the company won't be committing to monthly security updates.
Ars Technica commented that the policy was "insecure" and "unacceptable," as the monthly patches being released for the Android OS are crucial in maintaining users' security.
Motorola later released a statement that said the Moto Z and the Moto Z Force will receive patches from Android Security Bulletins, and the devices will further get updates and additional patches shortly after their launch. There was no assurance that the updates will arrive on time as the monthly security patches.
Another announcement released by Motorola, however, clarified its position.
Motorola said it understands the need for Android security patches and their importance to customers, as the company looks to release security patches as fast as it can.
"However, because of the amount of testing and approvals that are necessary to deploy them, it's difficult to do this on a monthly basis for all our devices," Motorola continued, adding that it would be more efficient for the company to bundle security patches into a bigger maintenance release of an OS upgrade.
Motorola also confirmed that the Moto Z Droid smartphones, along with the Moto G4, will receive Android Security Bulletins.
With these statements, users who'd prefer to get monthly security updates for their Android smartphones should look elsewhere, as there is obviously no commitment from Motorola to push out the security patches released by Google on a monthly basis.
In a discussion on the Android sub-Reddit, redditors expressed their disappointment with Motorola's stance on the security updates.
"Boy if that's not the laziest thing I've heard an OEM say in regards to updates. I guess at least they admitted to their laziness," said user QuestionsEverythang, adding that the move is even lazier once the fact that the implementation of Android by Motorola is close to stock.
