Where IOS beats Android hands down !!!!

One of the places where IOS beats Android is in the tight integration between hardware and software and the updates which Apple rolls out to its iPhone and iPads with immaculate timing and precision at least for 5 generations of products. This helps in giving a uniform experience to all its users and any security concerns can be addressed immediately. This is the main place where Google’s Android loses hands down. With a myriad of manufacturers, SoC’s, customizations, skins et.al Android has become a monster with no controls and each phone is in a different version of Android. With OE manufacturers taking their own sweet time to give the updates, even a flagship phone in Android ecosystem waits for its turn to get an update or a version change from its manufacturers. There are also many stock Android lovers who do not have a proper flagship handsets post the demise of the Google Nexus phones. This diversity in the Android world has its own pros and cons. We get a different Android skins made by different OEM’s which tries to compete with each other but when it comes to Android updates, this wide diversity causes each manufacturer to release updates at their own whims and fancies. Android one phones are also limited in number and lack the flagship characters. Pixel phones have still not come to the level where it could challenge Apple in anyway. Google seems to be pretty bad in doing a top notch hardware after it has put an end to its Nexus line. To alleviate this problem, Google needs to take some control over the update process and apart from project Treble, which I believe is still not delivering the results intended. Here are my 2 cents on this subject. I am no expert and just an enthusiast. I do not know if this solution is feasible also. 

My thoughts:

1.      Each OEM should give a list of phones in each 100, 200, 300, 400 dollars and the rest belong the flagship categories to Google. The idea is akin to google play edition of various phones but with a little change as said below.

2.      The buyer of these phones should be given an option at the time of buying whether to opt for stock Android or the own manufacturer’s skin at the time of first boot. This process needs to be a one-time choice only.

3.      If the phone owner opts for Stock Android, Google takes over the update and gives at least for 500USD and above phones 4 years of version updates and 5 years of security updates. Based on the phone’s price, the update cycle can vary.  The commercials for this needs to be negotiated between Google and various OEM’s.

4.      If the phone owner opts for the OEM’s skin, he would not be covered by Google’s updates and would be covered by OEM’s update policy.

5.      In this way, if Google can cover at least 50 phones of various manufacturers, I believe that it has a better edge than individual OEM’s putting a decent performance in front of Apple.

6.      This paves the way for tighter integration of hardware with stock Android which I believe give better results.

7.      This also pushes both Google and the OEM’s to better each other on the software front where they compete with each other to grab the phone owner’s attention.

8.      I have not mentioned any OEM maker by name here but I would love to see a Samsung or Oneplus’s flagship phone with top notch hardware running a mean stock Android with proper and timely update from Google is a strong competition to Apple.

9.      I have not considered project Whitechapel the new chipset making venture of Google while writing this article. If they come anywhere close to A series bionic chipsets of Apple, this would become a different ball game. Whether Google will also give its chipsets to other OEM’s is a different story saved for another day.

Hope this solution will help the Android world to take on Apple better. Thoughts and comments welcome.