Motorola ignores EU regulation on security updates for smartphones. Will this end well?

It’s understandable to some extent. When you sell a smartphone like the Motorola Moto G06 for just under €100 at retailers like Amazon Germany, it’s difficult to squeeze long-term update support into such a tight budget. After all, the updates have to be adapted for each device to develop individual drivers and tailor the software to the specific hardware.

Motorola could run into legal trouble

However, EU regulation introduced in June 2025 requires that all smartphones sold on the European market receive software updates for a long time. The directive does not specify a minimum price for this rule to take effect. The EU explicitly states that software updates must be available for five years after a device is no longer sold.

Motorola’s lawyers have apparently studied that legal text closely, and now the company appears to be ready to confront the EU Commission. Their interpretation is that the EU does not actually require updates to be provided at all, but only requires that if updates are offered, they must be free of charge. However, we are not aware of any case in which a smartphone manufacturer has ever charged money for security patches.

A caveat of otherwise solid devices

Maybe Motorola just wants to buy time for its internal processes. Other manufacturers like Samsung and Google are already offering seven years of updates for their devices. So it’s certainly not impossible, and short update support can also put Motorola at a competitive disadvantage. That said, Samsung may have also found a loophole when it comes to its budget handsets.

Overall, it’s unfortunate that Motorola resorts to this kind of trick. The Motorola Moto G06 shows that the company can make very good phones in the low-end segment. We were especially impressed by the chassis and the bright display, as you can read in our detailed review.