Another iOS release, another time to come to terms. With iOS 26 arriving widely and as expected on supported iPhones, Apple has yet again pinpointed the breadth with which Android’s update situation remains a horror show despite years of engineering fixes and industry promises to clean up its act.
Why iOS still trumps on day‑one delivery
Apple’s advantage here is structural: it’s one company designing the hardware, controlling software and flipping the global switch. That tight integration results in the synchronized rollouts that most Android owners can only lust after. There’s always adoption data that backs this up year over year (Mixpanel iOS dashboards consistently show steep uptake, with the latest iOS reaching majority share within a couple months of release). For users, it’s more than a matter of convenience — it’s a matter of clarity. You know when you will get the update, what is in it and that your region or carrier won’t slow it down.
The ecosystem is also friendly to older hardware. Apple’s phones commonly continue to get five or more years of major releases. It’s not news that you can get an update the same day for an iPhone the better part of a decade old while it’s still pushing out new flagships. That reliability also breeds trust — and it makes older hardware last more than a few years.
The Android maze: carriers, OEMs, and regions
The annual release of Android by Google is the beginning — not the end. Every manufacturer has to shoehorn the code, overlay it with a custom skin, certify it with upwards of seven chip makers and pass through the carrier gauntlet. Then there are phased rollouts and region-by-region pacing. It’s not unusual for a brand to announce the version of its OS only for the fine print to note that it’s shipping first on the newest flagship (or flagships), in one or two countries, more widely “soon.”
And first-party hardware may not be immune to delay, either. Google rolls out over‑the‑air updates piecemeal to ensure that we don’t have swaths of users suffering the same catastrophic bricking, which is good engineering, but also makes “update day” more like “update week — or more.” In the meantime, firms with the slickest software roadmaps are still running into the realities of disparate carriers and regulators. The device on an unlocked channel may receive the build a couple of weeks ahead of its carrier‑leased counterpart.
Wearables highlight the gap further. watchOS comes to all supported Apple Watch devices at roughly the same time (or very close) where many models see Wear OS updates from Qualcomm, OEMs and operators based on what a chipmaker or an OEM wants. Some watches are still awaiting updates months after their phone counterparts got a refresh.
Google’s patches made a difference — just not enough
To be fair, Google really did take the problem head-on. With Project Treble, low-level vendor code is separated from the OS framework, and with Project Mainline we’re making parts of the OS easier to update via Google Play — and now we’re expanding that work to create a Generic Kernel Image so it’s just as easy and efficient for our silicon partners to keep the kernel up to date. (Rather implausibly, ART, the Android Runtime, is now updatable via the Play Store; this will allow Google to tweak performance and security without having to do a full system update.)
Those plumbing changes matter. Play system updates and security patches land on billions of devices much more quickly than they used to, some feature drops no longer hold for an annual OS release. Counterpoint Research’s software update tracker has also been compelling OEMs to focus on longevity as well, with the likes of Samsung and Google offering up to seven years of updates for current flagships. But the last mile — coordinated, global, same‑day major versions across models — is still frustratingly varied.
Older device support: The silent game changer
Update speed is one thing; update parity is another. It’s a more fragmented situation, though: on iOS, an older iPhone may well get the new version on day one (even if it might drop a feature or two) — but barriers to installation, like device storage, are rare. In Android land, last year’s $1,000 flagship is frequently behind the latest and greatest in line for an update, and mid‑range or carrier‑branded versions can slip further behind. Consumers notice. Consistent, on-time updates help maintain resale values, minimize e‑waste and build brand loyalty — areas where Apple has seen tangible dividends, say analysts at IDC and CIRP.
Features, fragmentation and the perception problem
One argument in the latest discussion is that Android is increasingly modular, meaning version numbers matter less — as long as security patches, Play system updates and feature drops from quarterly patches stay current. There’s truth in that. But perception matters. When tentpole features slide to quarterly updates or are limited to a few devices, the platform feels fragmented, however slowly the plumbing is congealing.
For a brief moment, there seemed to be hope that the tides had turned: several OEMs sped into action with Android 14 and implied the template was finally sticking. Since then, momentum has wavered. Staggered betas, regional pilots and late carrier approvals have brought the old Android story back in vogue — particularly when juxtaposed with Apple’s one‑and‑done global rollout cadence.
What better would look like for Android updates
Android doesn’t have to turn into iOS to address this. It requires clear, enforceable timelines; transparent country and carrier schedules; day‑one parity extended to recent flagships, not only the latest batch. Google can keep moving more things to Play updates, but OEMs have got to match that with company‑wide rollout schedules and less exclusivity for brand‑new models.
Until that happens, every iOS release will serve as a reminder: Apple’s update machine is not magical but disciplined. Android has the pieces to arrive there — Treble, Mainline, long‑term support pledges and willing partners. What it’s missing, however, is the final mile of execution that turns “coming soon” into “available today” for everyone.