The latest version of Android 9 was released in August 2018. In October, 81 days after the release, when Google published its latest public statistics, this version of the OS was not installed on even 0,1% of devices. The previous Oreo 8, released in August 2017, worked on 21,5% of devices 431 days after launch. A long 795 days after the release of Nougat 7, the majority of Android users (50,3%) were still on older versions of the OS.
In general, Android devices do not update (or update extremely slowly), so smartphone owners (and app developers) cannot enjoy the latest benefits of the platform. And despite numerous attempts by Google to fix the situation, things have only gotten worse over the years. The distribution rates of the latest versions of the mobile OS are getting worse every year.
The peculiarity of Android is that devices receive updates so slowly that when a new version of the OS is released, the previous one still remains in the market in a minority compared to older ones. To determine if Google is improving the update rates of its huge fleet of Android devices, you can look at what percentage of devices are working one year after the launch of new major OS updates. The numbers show a clear trend: Google's efforts are not producing the expected results. Distribution of new versions of Android in the general fleet of devices takes more and more time.
Here's what percentage of devices were running each major version of Android 12 months after release, according to official Google statistics:
And here is the same statistics in dynamics, in the form of a graph:
It is worth noting that these figures reflect not only the release of fresh updates by manufacturers. They also show how soon fresh OSes come preinstalled on new smartphones and how long it takes users to buy a new device to replace an old one. That is, they show the distribution of fresh versions of the OS in the total fleet of Android devices for the year.
In addition, Android devices include not only smartphones and tablets, but also Android Auto-enabled TVs and in-car systems that users don't replace as often. However, if the TVs continued to receive updates after a couple of years (which they don't), they wouldn't be dropping their stats.
So why does each version of the OS spread more slowly than the previous one? The likely reason is the fact that the complexity of the Android platform itself is constantly increasing. At the same time, the shells that every major manufacturer develops on top of Google's mobile OS are getting more complex. The composition of market participants is also changing rapidly. For example, when Android Jelly Bean was in vogue, HTC, LG, Sony, and Motorola remained important market players. Since then, these companies have lost ground in favor of Chinese brands like Huawei, Xiaomi and OPPO. In addition, Samsung has gained market share by ousting many small vendors that have made fewer modifications to the OS and therefore could release new updates faster.
Anyone else remember Android Update Alliance? (hardly)
Android fragmentation has been a problem, in fact, throughout the existence of the mobile OS - people have complained about the slow distribution of updates for almost the entire period of the platform's existence.
In 2011, Google launched the Android Update Alliance with great optimism. It was about an agreement between Google, leading manufacturers and mobile operators on the timely release of updates for Android. Android users and the media were delighted with this news, but the initiative faded from the stage, and remained rather on paper.
Nexus software and Pixel
In 2011, Google also began selling phones under its Nexus brand, developed in close collaboration with various companies. They were intended to showcase the capabilities of the platform and were intended to show manufacturers the benefits of using a reference and rapidly updated Android environment. Nexus devices have always remained niche and never could come close to the popularity of Samsung.
The spirit of the program lives on today in Pixel smartphones, but, as with the Nexus, only a small number of Google fans choose these devices. Very few manufacturers produce smartphones based on the Android reference environment, and there are very few such flagship solutions. For example, Essential's attempt to do something similar was not successful in the marketplace.
In 2016, Google tried a new tactic by threatening to publish lists of the most notorious manufacturers that update their devices too slowly as anti-advertising. While a similar list has reportedly been sent out to partners in the Android ecosystem, the search giant has abandoned the idea of publicly criticizing the companies.
Project Treble
In 2017, Google came up with yet another approach to combat fragmentation. It was not an alliance or list, but a project codenamed Project Treble. The high-tech development focused on dividing the Android kernel into modules that can be updated independently, allowing device manufacturers to quickly create fresh firmware without looking back at changes from chip manufacturers and greatly simplifying the entire update process.
Treble is part of any device running Oreo or later, including the Samsung Galaxy S9. And the S9 smartphone received its first major update really faster than its predecessor. What is the bad news? It still took 178 days (in the case of the S8, the process took an absurd 210 days).
We can also recall the Android One and Android Go programs, which are also designed to make the latest versions of Google's mobile OS more widespread, especially on mid-range and entry-level models. Perhaps Project Treble will lead to a modest improvement in the release of fresh updates on flagship devices. But the trend is clear: the problem of platform fragmentation with the release of each new major version of Android is only growing, and so far there is no reason to believe that everything will change soon.
Source: 3dnews.ru