Back in October (2017) I published a feature mapping out the road map/state of play for all Windows phones, but since then we've had the full production release of a whole new branch of Windows 10 (Mobile), and even a new phone. Not exactly a maelstrom of activity, but certainly worth taking quarterly stock of models and branches supported!

As usual, the ground rules of Windows 10 dictate that Windows 10 Mobile's various branches (Creators Update, etc.) each have 28 months support (patches, security fixes, mainly) on a rolling programme - and it's worth making a big deal over this in view of the utter mess that is the Android smartphone world. Android OS has around 85% market share, so utterly dominant, yet the vast majority of handsets across the world are stuck on versions that are now unsupported to varying degrees in terms of patching security holes. So yay, strike one for Windows here. (Or iOS, of course, which is equally secure.)

Just as an example (of how to use the table), take a humble user of a Lumia 640, launched only six months before Windows 10 Mobile was available. Such a phone was officially upgraded to Windows 10 Mobile and can jump up to the Creators Update and thus will have support and fixes until Autumn 2019.

Here's the table - if it's too wide for your browser then just scroll sideways as needed.

* see my article here for explanation.
** though in practice this hasn't been provisioned yet, not least because there are so few physical units shipped as I write this. I'm.... investigating!

As I've explained on AAWP already, it's not that big a deal if you have a phone that maxes out on the Creators Update, probably a Lumia 640 or upgraded Lumia 930 or 830.

Although a lot of cells above have now been 'green lit' for official FCU, there's also the new device at the end, the Wileyfox Pro, which I reviewed here and here. It's low end but fully supported - indeed, it's whole reason for existing lies in the realms of security and support. In theory, this will be still be getting updates in 2020. Which isn't bad for a phone powered by a Snapdragon 210!

It's too much to call the scene 'healthy', of course, since FCU and beyond will only really bring fixes and patches, but they're welcome enough in today's paranoid world. And we could really, really do with more than just three or so models still available new.

Oh well. Comments welcome on the table or your phone's position and status within it.