People seem to be missing the biggest reason why phones can't be updated permanently - it's because of SoC vendors like Qualcomm. Their SoCs include proprietar

People seem to be missing the biggest reason why phones can't be updated permanently - it's because of SoC vendors like Qualcomm. Their SoCs include proprietary drivers in order to run Linux on them, and because of that the kernel can never be updated. This means important features and security fixes can't be applied, as you can upgrade to the latest version of Android but the kernel underneath remains ancient. Until SoC vendors are forced to support much longer timeframes, or ideally upstream their drivers, then we're never going to get phones which can last 10 years.