As Android updates get faster, does it matter if they’re also more sporadic?

Ben Schoon | Dec 10 2023 - 9:00 am PT

Over the past few years, the problem of getting major Android updates out to users has become faster than ever, but at the same time, it’s felt like the rollouts have become more sporadic and random than ever before. Is that actually a problem? Let’s discuss.

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For years, Android updates were a mocking point of the OS. The scattered use of different OS versions, the random availability of features, the length of time at which updates were made available, and more. It was all pretty hard to keep track of, and earned the platform a less-than-ideal reputation. But, especially in the past few years, things have changed a lot.

Where the first few Pixel phones only get three years of updates, Google is now supporting the Pixel 8 series for an industry-leading seven years. Samsung, which regularly took the better part of a year to launch a major Android update back in the day, is currently rolling out its Android 14 update to dozens of devices, a process that started merely a month after Pixel phones were updated. And Google continues to offer more and more flexibility in updates too, as many new Android features are being delivered through methods outside of a traditional system update.

Yet, there’s a noticeable trend ongoing.

Android updates, for as much as they’ve improved in cadence, feel much more sporadic nowadays.

First, let’s take a look at the Pixel. Google’s “Feature Drop” has become a quarterly occurrence to look forward to, but things have changed since the first one. The first Feature Drop arrived mostly as a surprise and, for the most part, managed to get all of its new features into the hands of Pixel owners within a day. Fast forward to today, and the December 2023 Feature Drop has taken quite some time to actually arrive for many. In the days since OTAs still aren’t showing up for many users, and even after installation, some features still haven’t been widely rolled out to everyone.

To an extent, gradual rollouts are just a part of Google’s playbook. Whenever the company announces a new feature, you can expect it to take several days to reach everyone. There are benefits to that, which we’ll get to, but it’s understandably frustrating to some.

Another clear, arguably even bigger example of the increasingly sporadic nature of Android updates is Samsung.

The One UI 6 rollout for Samsung Galaxy devices kicked off quickly, bringing Android 14 to over a dozen devices within just a few weeks of Pixel devices. But there’s not been much rhyme or reason to the rollout. The Galaxy S23 series first got its update on October 31, but that update didn’t arrive in Korea (or widely in the US) for a couple of weeks. The company’s latest devices, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Flip 5, were updated a while later, but took almost two more weeks to finally reach unlocked models.

Samsung’s rollouts usually take this route, where updates take a while to fully roll out for all regions, variants, and carriers for a specific device, but it’s still pretty frustrating. 9to5Google keeps a list of Samsung’s update progress, but even that can only go so far in detailing where these updates are available because it’s just so complex.

So, that brings us to the important question.

Is this actually a bad thing?

Android updates are complex, especially for more devices that have a large variety of variants. There might be changes that necessitate a separate build for certain carriers, even on an unlocked device. And the sheer process of pushing OTAs to hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of customers at a time is a huge undertaking. As such, there’s a lot of room for things to go wrong, and that’s the one place where these gradual, sporadic rollouts make sense.

When updates start rolling out an happen to cause a problem, we’ve seen many examples of those rollouts being stopped before they affect all users. In 2021, Google paused a monthly patch for Pixel 6 due to calling issues that were spotted during the initial rollout. Nvidia similarly took a break during a major Android TV rollout for the Shield TV to fix some problems.

Still, it has been clear that, at least to some extent, Google wants this to be better. A while back, the “Check for Updates” button in Android actually did what it said. But, now, it doesn’t always work. Even if an update is announced and available, you might not be able to get it right away.

Personally, I’ve always been split on this, but it does seem there’s room for better balance in how these updates go, and it could be rather simple. If “Check for Updates” actually worked, the companies that need to check for problems can do so with the users who want that update immediately. And, for the many, many people OTAs will just arrive when they arrive, just as always. That seems like a win-win to me.

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Top comment by Alex Mullis

Liked by 20 people

I wish things would take at most a few days to roll out. I still don't have the new Messages features and I'm still missing some Wallet features. I think waiting a month or more is unacceptable.

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Meanwhile, in China, OnePlus has officially launched its next flagship phone, the OnePlus 12. The global launch is expected early next year, but there’s a lot to look forward to here.