With iOS 14, Apple once again crushes Android makers on software update support

Authored by androidcentral.com and submitted by immi_007
image for With iOS 14, Apple once again crushes Android makers on software update support

It's time to talk about software updates again. Specifically, just how bad Android phone makers are doing compared to Apple's iPhone. And they are doing really bad in comparison.

Apple's iOS 14 will be available for a bunch of phones, but what's important is that phones from 2015 like the iPhone 6S and even the original "budget" iPhone SE from 2016 will be getting the update the same day that the brand-new iPhone 11 Pro gets it. That is awesome for anyone who uses those phones.

Even Google won't update an Android phone from 2015 and it owns the platform.

Meanwhile, there are just a handful of phones guaranteed to get Android 11 and there is a very good chance that you will have to wait at least six months after it is released before it comes to most of them. There are no phones from companies like Samsung (which drives the Android ecosystem almost single-handedly) built in 2015 or 2016 that will be getting Android 11.

This is terrible. This has to end. And even if you say you don't care, you really should.

Right about now is where I get the itch to talk about security. From that perspective, a platform update is a very important thing but Google has done a lot of work to help keep phones updated against things like malware and web exploits even if they aren't getting a real platform update. I applaud them for that. But that's not the only reason why platform updates are important, or even the main reason.

Without phones running the new software, developers aren't going to take advantage of the new features it brings. And this is what makes it all so bad.

keishtonz on June 23rd, 2020 at 04:20 UTC »

in google I/O 2020 im gonna look forward to all these cool new features and then you realise your phone has had 2 OS updates already.....

onlyloggedinforboobs on June 23rd, 2020 at 03:58 UTC »

Honestly Android doesn’t hold a candle to iOS regarding updates ONLY because Google has no spine when dealing with OEMs and SoC vendors. Apple having more control over the hardware and having a smaller hardware portfolio doesn’t matter because Windows supports a ridiculous number of devices and a wide range of hardware, and Windows devices get updates for freaking ever. Google really has no excuse beyond being in debt to their own historically bad decision-making and spinelessness.

Vince789 on June 23rd, 2020 at 03:20 UTC »

Dam, I was hoping Apple would drop support for the iPhone SE so my work would finally upgrade my work phone lol