Ryan Haines / Android Authority
iOS 26 was released a couple of days ago, and I immediately got the notification to install it on my test iPhone 13 Pro Max. A four-year-old phone, which sits at my desk and doesn’t serve me most of the time, has the latest software available with all its Liquid Glass questionable glory. My iPad Mini also received iPadOS 26, and my Apple Watch Series 6 got watchOS 26. It’s the last update my watch will get, but that’s not a bad record for a watch launched in 2020.
Meanwhile, Android 16 has been out since June 10, but the update state of my Android phones and tablets is as “complicated” as my best friend’s Facebook relationship status. My Pixel phones and tablets already have Android 16, my Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra would have it in beta… only if I lived in the US, my Nothing Phone 2 promises to get it soon, and my realme and HONOR phones, well? It’s anyone’s guess. Also, my Pixel Watch 3 still doesn’t have Wear OS 6, even though that new update was released in July.
Do you wish Android updates rolled out faster to more phones? 134 votes Yes, of course. 84 % I'm fine waiting. 9 % I don't care about the speed of Android update rollouts. 7 %
Joe Maring / Android Authority
Sure, I’m in the minority because I have all of these devices at my disposal, but I think this gives me a unique perspective into the disparity and confusion that comes from the state of Android’s releases and updates. I have to keep manually checking, looking up online reports or rollouts, and researching beta or stable releases, methods to join them, and countries they’re available in to ensure my phones have the latest and greatest.
When Google or Samsung announces that a new Android version is available, I know it's a lie. Or semi-truth.
Even when Samsung officially announced that One UI 8 is rolling out to Galaxy phones, I knew it was a lie. Or semi-truth. The devil is in the details: starting in South Korea, Galaxy S25 first. So when will my Galaxy S24 get it in France? September 25, or maybe October, who knows? I have to keep looking for other announcements and leaks, and hope that one of them is true.
All of this makes me very, very envious of Apple users and journalists. One day, same time, all devices, all around the world, and updates are a go. It’s beautiful. You don’t have to search or wait or keep checking. Even Google can’t manage it with Pixel phones; it gets close, but there are always delays in the OTA rollout or devices that must wait. Worse yet, Google can’t help but shoot itself in the foot sometimes, like it did with the Android 16 rollout. After announcing a bunch of new features, it forced itself into an early June release cycle, which came with nothing substantial, and a footnote, “Oh, sorry, you know that spiffy new Material 3 Expressive design and Live Updates features? Yeah, you’ll get them in the next QPR update in the fall.”
Unexpected update schedules and delays are the price of diversity and choice in the Android ecosystem, but it still should be better than this.
In a way, I’ve gotten used to this sillyness. It’s the entry tax I had accepted to pay many years ago when I chose Android over iOS — the big F word for fragmentation being the price of choice and diversity. Unexpected update schedules and delays are part of the charm of Android for me today, like random stops and unplanned side quests are on a long scenic road trip. But there’s one day a year when they really annoy me, and it’s when Apple releases the latest iOS. It’s such a stark reminder of how simple things could be and how I’ve become complacent and accepted the bad state of updates on Android as a given.
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
There was a time, a few years ago, when things started looking up. It started with Samsung releasing monthly security updates like clockwork, even preceding Google a few times. Then, Samsung sped up its One UI development year over year, to a point where One UI 6 officially started rolling out only 22 days after Android 14 became available on Pixels. As a matter of fact, Android 14 was the peak of Android’s update rollout efficiency across the board. Even Xiaomi, OnePlus, OPPO, and many other brands were very quick to release betas and stable Android 14 versions to their existing phones.
Something happened with Android 15, erasing most of that positive progress and causing companies to scramble to support it. We all remember how much confusion there was around Samsung’s very late One UI 7 rollout. And now, with Android 16, it feels like we’re back to the late 2010s or early 2020s with longer delays and uncertainties across Android brands.
When Apple can release iOS 26 for an iPhone 13 in 2025 on day one, there's no excuse for Samsung not to release One UI 8 for the Galaxy S22 on the same day as the Galaxy S25.
If Android 17 fixes this, there would still be one aspect that Apple does better, and that is its older phone support. Sadly, it’s become the norm for Android flagships to be dropped from the priority release the very moment a successor is launched. My Galaxy S24 Ultra is a year and a half old, but it’s now a second-rate citizen compared to the Galaxy S25 series, and it’ll get the update after it. The Galaxy S23 will likely get it even later. These phones cost more than $1,000; they shouldn’t be treated like a second thought. When Apple can release iOS 26 for an iPhone 13 in 2025 on day one, there’s no excuse for Samsung not to do it for the Galaxy S24, S23, and S22 on the same day as One UI 8 is out for the S25.
Some of you will tell me that Android updates these days don’t matter all that much — most of them don’t have a lot of new features. Some will say that Android brands have to deal with their own skins and apps, and have to support more phones, more operators, and more variables. Some will tell me it used to be so much worse: Android updates were a black hole in the early 2010s; you bought a phone, and you had no idea when it would get an update or even if it would get any update. That’s all true. But also, here’s my counterpoint: Look at Android 14. It can be better; it should be better.
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