So I purchased a spark distributed Nokia 7 Plus. One of the major selling points was that it's an Android One device and therefore you should expect the software to be supported for a reasonable amount of time and to receive timely updates. For me only the security updates were important, but it is nice to receive new versions of Android and the features that come with it.

Unfortunately it seems only security patches are available up to July via OTA updates. I did some googling and talked to Nokia support and they have released updates including security patches up to September. Nokia claimed that any delay is due to my Carrier. So I did some more googling and came across this (which I'm assuming is similar to the process for android one approved phones):

 

Carrier Association, and How it Works

 

 

 

When you first boot up your phone with a carrier's sim installed, that phone becomes associated to that carrier in Google's database. This is NOT a carrier lock, and it is used by Google for identification purposes. Allow me to demonstrate

 

 

 

 

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  [Click Here] (https://play.google.com/store?hl=en&tab=w8) (EDIT: Do this on your PC, not your phone)

   

   

   

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  Click the gear icon in the top right and select "Settings"

   

   

   

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  Under my devices, you'll see the carrier association(s) of all your Android devices that currently have your Google account linked.

   

   

   

In my case, I have T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T for certain phones. My Nexus Player, Nvidia Shield ATV, and LG Watch Style are listed as "No carrier."

 

 

 

Google maintains this list and, when they push out an update, all phones associated to a carrier that has approved the update, or a carrier that has no role in the process, receive that update. Carriers that have yet to approve the update are not pushed the update.

 

 

 

You can change your carrier association by swapping to a different carrier's sim and rebooting. Or, you can delete your carrier association by powering down, removing the sim (do not reinsert), powering up, and performing a full factory reset. With no sim installed, the fresh phone has no carrier association and will pull the latest available update.

 

Does anyone know if Spark is actually involved in any carrier approval update process, and if it is actually likely to be them delaying updates?