Big brands leaving customers in the dark about abandoning support for smart products and appliances, Which? finds
The consumer champion’s survey of more than 220 brands found the majority either update smart devices with vital tech updates for a dismally short time or have no published policy, leaving consumers unclear about how long their product is guaranteed to be supported with updates.
This is despite new laws, coming into force from 29 April, which will make it illegal to sell products in the UK that do not have published product update policies stating a minimum time for support. Manufacturers that fail to comply with the law face potential fines of up to £10 million or four per cent of worldwide revenue.
Unsupported devices can become a security risk as flaws emerge that hackers can exploit. Support is a commitment from the manufacturer that the smart element of a product will continue to work. That is important because unsupported products could lose functionality or even become useless before their time. Appliances otherwise in working condition could be thrown out, which is bad for the owner and the environment.
Which? asked 224 brands in 37 categories if they had a clear updates policy. Just three in 10 (31%) clearly said how many years their products would be supported, while one in 10 (11%) offered a vague policy. Six in 10 (58%) did not answer, refused to comment or did not have a policy.
Having a bad policy is poor, but saying nothing is arguably worse – and some brands have done so repeatedly in the three years Which? has run this survey. Hoover and Candy (both owned by Haier), along with Beko and AEG have never given Which? clear policies. TP-Link and Huawei (both various devices), Canon (printers) and V-Tech (baby monitors), consistently say nothing, too. Some brands did say they were aware of the new upcoming laws and were working on a policy, but Which? believes it is fair to expect more than an eleventh-hour decision on products that can cost £1,000 or more.
Some brands, such as Sony, Hisense and Arlo, that previously reported a policy said nothing in 2023. Which? believes Apple offers good support (the iPhone 8 still gets security updates more than six years on from its launch in 2017) but the brand refuses to put clear policies into the public domain.
Which? found that update policies are dismal across smart TVs. No brand meets the length of time Which? expects a TV to last on average (6.8 years). Samsung likely leads the way with five years of support from launch. LG, however, offers just two years guaranteed from launch for many of its sets, so, for example, the OLED65G26LA TV could lose support after April 2024 despite still being on sale at the time of writing. The company offers a woeful two years of guaranteed support from launch across many of its appliances, though did say that 2024 TVs will have a five-year update policy.
Sky, Panasonic, TCL and Toshiba gave no details of their policies. This was also true this time for Sony and Hisense, which offered two years from launch and eight years from discontinuation respectively in 2022. Some Sony smart TVs cost almost £3,000 yet are sold with no indication of how long they will get vital updates and the brand is far from alone in doing this.
Which? experts have seen market-leading Nest thermostats on sale despite official support seemingly ending years ago. No one wants to find that their smart thermostat stops working in the depths of winter.
Washing machines have an estimated 11-year lifetime yet Samsung and LG offer only five and two years of support from launch respectively. AEG, Beko, Candy, Hisense, Hoover and Whirlpool reported no defined policy. AEG did say it was reviewing the new legal requirements and would have a policy soon.
A dishwasher has an estimated life of 13 years. Samsung and LG offer short support lives. Smeg gave Which? no information about its policies. This picture is echoed across most big-box appliances, including ovens, tumble dryers and fridge freezers.
Which? has played a key role in pushing for better support and transparency from smart device brands for years. While the forthcoming laws are positive, Which? believes it is disconcerting to see so many brands waiting until the eleventh hour to provide customers with clear information on support, leaving them in the dark yet again when purchasing smart products that often command premium prices.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) will be in charge of enforcing the Product Security and Telecommunications Act 2022 when it comes into force in the Spring. Which? is calling for it to offer clear guidance and ensure the smart product market is adequately prepared ahead of the new laws coming into force.
Rocio Concha, Which? Director of Policy and Advocacy, said:
“With new laws to force transparency from manufacturers on the horizon, our investigation has found that a lot of big brands are dragging their heels on confirming vital update support periods for their products.
“Smart product manufacturers must get their houses in order ahead of new laws coming into force later this year. If they don’t then the regulator must be prepared to take strong enforcement action, including issuing fines against companies which are not complying.”
Notes to editors
- Which? asked 224 brands in 37 product categories if they had a clear updates policy. If this does not have a defined minimum period for the support length, Which? does not count it as a policy.
- Robust analysis of recent product surveys has allowed Which? to estimate the average time it would expect a product to last before it breaks down or deteriorates significantly – Which? has called this estimated lifetime (ELT). This is a conservative estimate, so Which? is confident that the genuine average is above this value.
Extra information from the research:
Best practice
Miele and Bosch are among the best, and show that it is possible to offer good support policies, with 10 years of support across all appliances. This is from the product being discontinued (no longer on sale) rather than from launch. That is an important difference. ‘Four years of support’ might sound good, but if the product came out in 2020 and consumers are buying it in 2024, it could already be unsupported.
Smart thermostats
The Nest Learning Thermostat had five years support from its release in 2015. Google said in 2023 it was still receiving critical updates, but refused to put an end date on support – it could be next week or years away. Hive has no clear update policies, while Honeywell, Tado, Eve, Netatmo and WiserDrayton all said nothing.
Smartphones
The estimated life of smartphones is 5.6 years. Google goes beyond that with seven years of support from launch for its latest phones, the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. Fairphone supports for at least eight years. Earlier Pixel handsets get just five. Motorola supports its phones for four years, and Samsung supports for four or five years, depending on the model. Apple is vague on its policies, Sony, Xiaomi, Huawei and Honor said nothing about theirs.
Security cameras
Hive cameras, either new or already owned, will lose support and stop working from 2025. Amazon brands Ring and Blink guarantee four years’ support from the product being discontinued. Google’s Nest offers five years but only from launch. Ezviz gives just two years from launch. TP-Link has never been clear on its update policy. Arlo, Swan, Eufy, Yale and Foscam also leave you in the dark.
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