Google updates Android devices faster than before.
Sarah Tew / CNET
Google has faced a major problem for years when it comes to Android, its mobile operating system: software updates can be difficult to implement, leading to inconsistencies and outdated features for users. However, the search giant said Thursday that Android’s update is getting better and better due to optimizations and policy changes made with the software.
According to Google, last year’s version of the software, Android 10, ran on 100 million devices five months after launch. This corresponds to almost 30% faster acceptance than the version released a year earlier. The search giant also announced that it launched its COVID-19 contact tracking tools, which are part of a collaborative project with Apple, on 2 billion devices within a month.
Android is the most dominant mobile operating system in the world and supplies power to almost nine out of ten smartphones shipped worldwide. However, the biggest challenge for Google with new versions of Android is to transfer them to users’ phones – a problem that the industry calls “fragmentation” – because mobile operators and mobile phone manufacturers can slow down the process.
The problem shows one of Google’s biggest obstacles to competing with Apple. Unlike Android, 92% of Apple’s iPhones use iOS 13, the previous version of the operating system. The company announced iOS 14 at the end of last month.
One reason for the faster adoption of Android updates is Project Treble, an initiative announced three years ago that tries to remove some of the barriers between consumers and new versions of Android.
Even though Google develops Android, it is up to device manufacturers and mobile operators to sign out before it reaches consumers. That’s because they usually have to add and thrive their own apps and then test everything before transferring it to phones and other devices. But even before the software arrives at mobile phone manufacturers like Samsung and LG or at providers like Verizon and AT&T, it makes a pit stop at chip manufacturers like Qualcomm.
With Project Treble, Google has extracted the code that is important to chip manufacturers so that they can find everything more easily in one place. The goal is to shorten the time it takes for updates to move through the pipeline from chip manufacturers to device manufacturers.
Google also said on Thursday that it relies on a number of tools called Google Play Services to release faster updates. With the tools, Android can work around some fragmentation problems by transferring updates directly without permission from device and mobile phone partners. The company typically uses Google Play Services to update its own apps like Gmail and Google Maps and push changes like a new app icon.
Google used Play Services in May to introduce the company’s contact tracking tools. The software update was part of a joint project with Apple to use iPhones and Android phones to track the spread of COVID-19. Google said on Thursday that it had brought the software to 2 billion devices in four weeks.