Officially announced just last week, the mid-range Motorola Moto G17 offers hardly any upgrades over the Moto G15 (approx. $130 on Amazon) apart from a higher-resolution 32 MP front-facing camera. Motorola has even retained the ageing MediaTek Helio G81 Extreme and ships the G17 with Android 15, which was released in summer 2024.

Motorola UK promises only two years of security patches but not a single major Android update. Likewise, the phone’s German product page offers no information on update support. The European Union requires manufacturers to provide at least five years of updates from a phone’s launch date. Speaking to media outlet After Dawn, Motorola stated that, based on its interpretation of the regulation, a smartphone’s operating system must receive security and feature updates, but major OS upgrades aren’t mandatory. This indirectly confirms that no Android 16 upgrade is planned for the Moto G17 in Europe either.

Whilst this update policy may not violate any regulations, Motorola has fallen far behind many competitors in software support. For instance, the similarly affordable Samsung Galaxy A17 (approx. $180 on Amazon) is guaranteed six Android updates. Even Chinese smartphone makers tend to offer significantly longer support. As an example, Xiaomi promises four years of OS updates for its Redmi Note 15.

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Editor of the original article: Hannes Brecher – Senior Tech Writer – 19806 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2018

Since 2009 I have written for different publications with a focus on consumer electronics. I joined the Notebookcheck news team in 2018 and have combined my many years of experience with laptops and smartphones with my lifelong passion for technology to create informative content for our readers about new developments in this sphere. In addition, my design background as an art director at an ad agency has allowed me to have deeper insights into the peculiarities of this industry.

Translator: Zhiwei Zhuang – Translator – 567 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2022

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering, I moved from Singapore to
Cologne in 2014 and began pursuing a career as a freelance translator. Much of my translation work
focuses on science, engineering and technology. My fascination with computers and mobile
electronics began when I was young. And I have fond memories reading countless tech and gaming
magazines. Working with Notebookcheck gives me the opportunity to incorporate my personal
interests into my professional work.