There’s a disconnect at the heart of Android. It’s the biggest risk to the long-term future of the world’s most popular operating system. And it’s about to get worse.
Samsung is the most popular Android OEM — one in three of all Android phones sold is a Galaxy. Then comes Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo. Pixel is nowhere to be seen in the top sales charts, with low single digit market share in most markets.
And yet Pixel comes first. A new version of Android comes first to Pixel. New security, privacy and AI features come first to Pixel. Monthly security updates and even zero-day fixes come first to Pixel. Everything comes first to Pixel.
Samsung competes with Apple, where the iPhone-maker controls everything, updating all its devices at the same time. China’s OEMs compete at home with Huawei, which has the same levels of control. And within Android, Pixel is now the same.
Google is now changing Android, “marking a new chapter for how Android updates work, moving from a single, yearly operating system update to more frequent releases. This means you get the latest features as soon as they’re ready.”
If you have a Pixel. Because other OEMs, including Samsung, have to take Google’s update and wrap it into their own OS. Look no further than Samsung’s One UI 7 and One UI 8 delays to see the problem. Only Pixel develops raw to release.
“Google’s new Android update plan might finally push you toward a Pixel phone, Google’s faster updates might give Pixels the edge other phones can’t catch,” says Phone Arena. “Google is about to make a change that could shake things up in a big way.”
“For anyone who actually cares about having the newest Android features and top-notch performance, Pixel phones are about to become a much more tempting option,” Phone Arena suggests. “Google could make other phone brands feel slow and sluggish. Controlling the software experience is a huge advantage, and it could finally make Pixel phones the ‘it’ option for Android users.”
There’s a more critical issue as well. On the first day of this month, Google warned Android users that phones were under attack, two zero day vulnerabilities were being exploited in the wild. Pixel rushed out updates. Other OEMs can only do this slowly. Samsung, as the leader of the pack, won’t update all devices for weeks to come.
Google’s ownership of Android worked when it was a level playing field. But the increasing focus on Pixel and the disconnect where it always comes first means it’s not a level playing field any more. At some point, something will need to give.
