Why OnePlus thinks that seven years of updates is a little ‘too much’

OnePlus’ recently launched

OnePlus

12 and OnePlus 12R smartphones come packed with pretty much

flagship

features and specifications and they offer quite a value for money proposition too. However, the question is: When OnePlus can pack all things flagship in the smartphone, why is it not pushing the

software support

envelope, similar to Google and Samsung?
A little prelude, Google offers up to

seven years

of software support with Pixel phones and Samsung has also joined the wave with Galaxy S24 series phones. But, OnePlus still offers four years of Android

updates

and five years of security updates, even with their flagship -- OnePlus 12 series.
But why is it not offering extended software support just like Google and Samsung.? We finally have the answer as Kinder Liu, OnePlus' COO and president shared some key insight on this to Tom’s Guide in an interview.
Why OnePlus is not offering and won’t offer seven years of software updates

According to Liu, OnePlus does not want to match the seven years of software updates offered by Samsung and Google for their flagship smartphones. "Simply offering longer software update policies completely misses the point," Liu mentioned in the interview.
"It's not just software update policies that are important to the user, it's the fluency of your phone's user experience too”, he further added.
Liu also used a metaphor to explain the entire software update situation. He said, “Imagine your phone is a sandwich”. He added, "Some manufacturers are now saying that the filling in their sandwich — their phone's software — will still be good to eat in seven years. But what they're not telling you is that the bread in the sandwich — the user experience — might be moldy after four years. Suddenly a seven-year software update policy doesn't matter, because the rest of your experience with the phone is terrible."

Can smartphone hardware keep up with the updates for seven years
Seven years is a long time and the ever-evolving technology landscape can change drastically, you never know. That said, smartphones need to support the latest and greatest features that are the seventh iteration of the software and the new features that will be introduced in them.