We found out how often Xiaomi phones receive security updates

Perhaps the most important thing in the IT world is that once a device is purchased, it is properly supported, especially in terms of security. The recent story of the winged seahorse fish illustrates this.

Security updates do not always protect you, but they significantly reduce the attack surface, because once all patches are installed, only the so-called zero-day, i.e. undiscovered vulnerabilities, can be a problem.

But these are difficult to detect, and hopefully the good guys and gals will find the bug first, rather than the cybercriminals.

Xiaomi is not always very good at updates, but it certainly delivers security patches. Here's a list of how often you can expect them:

source: XDA/Xiaomi

Not too surprising: there are the Mi A phones (which are no longer available, I talked about it here), and there is everyone else. This is because of the Android One program, which is all about security and a clean Android experience. These phones come with the same factory Android found on Google Pixels, no MIUI, and only a few Xiaomi apps.

For Android Enterprise recommended phones, we also find out how long they get updates - and it's pretty good:

source: xiaomi

So you can see that if you choose the Android Enterprise recommended device, you are guaranteed updates for several years. It's worth thinking about this when you buy, because we live in an age where anyone can be a target, and where tools previously unimaginable to cybercriminals are available.