Microsoft
According to a Microsoft support document reported on by Windows Central, Microsoft Surface PCs that have shipped on or after January 1st, 2021, will receive at least six years of driver and firmware updates. This is an improvement from the previous policy of supporting devices with at least four years of updates from when they first came out.
The following Surface devices are eligible for the extended support: Surface Pro 7 Plus, Surface Laptop 4, Surface Pro 8, Surface Laptop Studio, Surface Go 3, Surface Pro X Wi-Fi, Surface Laptop SE, Surface Laptop Go 2, Surface Laptop 5, Surface Pro 9, Surface Studio 2 Plus, Surface Go 4, Surface Laptop Go 3, and Surface Laptop Studio 2. You can find a chart with Microsoft’s end-of-service dates for all of its currently supported Surface devices in the same support document.
While Microsoft’s move is not as generous as Google’s recent decision to give Chromebooks released in 2021 or later 10 years of automatic updates, it is still a welcome change. Extending the life of products is a great way for tech companies to reduce waste, help the environment, and give consumers more value for their money.