Apple is already known to support iPhones and iPads for a very long time. However, the German government has now proposed to the European Union to enforce Apple and other smartphone companies to provide software and security updates for up to seven years for their devices.

The European Commission has proposed that device OEMs offer up to five years of software support and spare parts for their devices, with spare parts for tablets proposed to be available for six years. It also wants device makers to publish the prices of the spare parts and not increase them later on. However, it does not intend to set the prices of spare parts.

For spare parts, the European Commission has proposed a maximum delivery time of five working days.

Germany, however, wants the European Commission to do more in this regard. It wants that OEMs offer up to seven years of software updates. It also wants faster delivery of spare parts, and it will be further discussing this point with the Commission.

The DigitalEurope Industry Association, consisting of Apple, Samsung, Huawei, and other device OEMs, believes the European Commission’s proposals are a bit too much. They have proposed security updates for three years and OS updates for two years for their devices.

They also believe that they should only be mandated to offer batteries and displays to customers as they have a high failure rate. Other components like camera sensors and microphones rarely ever fail and thus should not be mandated.

The EU is expected to introduce this proposal by 2023, so there’s quite a bit of time left for further negotiations between all the involved parties. Apple is already known for supporting its devices for 5-7 years, so it should not really have a problem with the Commission’s new proposal. Android OEMs, however, could be in a fix since they tend to only support their devices for about 2-3 years.