How Android 12 will roll out updates much faster and to more phones
Android 12 can bring updates much faster and to more phones than previous Android versions. This is because they will be distributed through the Play Store, which can be found on almost all Android phones. Android 12 is likely to be released in the summer of 2021.
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Android 12 will speed up updates
Last year, Google released Project Mainline to roll out Android updates to more phones faster, and the next step is not long in coming. An attentive reader of the website XDA Developers has discovered that Google has been working on the updater technology in the background, and is releasing it simultaneously with Android 12.
This makes it possible to release important phone updates via the Play Store, Google’s app store. On the one hand, that is good news. The Play Store is installed on almost all Android devices and is therefore very accessible.
By releasing updates directly through the store, Google, which as the owner of the Android system, for example, releases an important security update every month, does not have to wait for third parties, such as the maker of your smartphone.
Instead, Google is in control. There is therefore directly the risk of ‘uniform sausage’. Some manufacturers, such as OnePlus, regularly release updates to differentiate their software versions from other phone makers.
If Google can adjust important Android elements (such as how a certain button looks) itself, the operating systems of Android smartphones may look more similar.
Android’s Achilles heel
Updates have long been Android’s Achilles heel. For some time now, Google has been taking steps to tackle this problem. Project Mainline is a good example of this. Launched in the spring of 2019, this program, in short, allows system and security updates for Android to be rolled out without manufacturer intervention.
Initiatives such as Android One must also ensure that the average phone is updated faster and longer. Opinions differ about the effectiveness of such programs. Android Planeteditor Rens thinks the Android One program has failed. Read why in the opinion article below.
Read more: Opinion: sorry Google, Android One (unfortunately) failed
