HeyCori
Mod Emeritus
To be fair I think its extremely unlikely that Windows Phone 9 will be the same level of what Windows Phone 8 is; however that does not mean MS will not make some weird reason why WP8 devices cannot be upgraded to WP9.
Microsoft did promise minimum 18 months of updates for WP8 phones. Factor in development time for the next update (whether it's WP9 or WP10), and you're looking at two years of updates before WP8 reaches EOL. Then I think those upcoming 3rd gen devices will face a similar situation to what we have now with 7.8, meaning that 3rd gen devices will only receive a partial update. And the people that really get screwed are those that buy a 3rd gen device near the end of the 18 month cut-off. Sounds brutal but still a bit better than Android. Microsoft is trying to ensure that all of their products receive some sort of update, whereas Android handset makers still cherry pick what phones they will update. Some Android phones will receive updates for a year+ and some get EOL way early.