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Google launched Android in 2008 on a unmarried phone, simply the platform was designed to exist adaptable and freely available. Anyone tin can download the open source lawmaking and make changes to it. This has led to massive success for Android, which is now the nigh pop calculating platform on the planet. At the same fourth dimension, Google'south open approach has contributed to the development of a fractured user base. The trouble only seems to be getting worse as time goes on, too. Equally of the almost recent platform status update, in that location are around 1 billion Android devices out there running software more than two years out of date.

The Android platform versions report is updated almost every calendar month, and all the details are posted publicly on the Android Developer website. The estimate of 1 billion "old" devices comes from hardware engineer Dan Luu, who used the rough numbers of active devices from Google to effigy out how many Android phones and tablets out at that place are running ancient versions of the software. As recently as May 2017, Google says it crossed 2 billion active global devices. Today, around half of all devices are running Android 5.1 Lollipop and earlier. That version was launched in early 2015.

Luu notes that the adoption rate for new versions of Android has been slowing. Terminal year, Nougat's growth tracked several months backside Marshmallow the twelvemonth before. Equally of the new report, Oreo is on the same trajectory every bit Nougat. There are several likely mechanisms for this trend, including the fact that many OEMs are slow to get updates out the door. However, device makers have strived to meliorate this in recent years. Well-nigh phones accept several months to run across a new update, but that'due south better than information technology one time was. So, why are new versions getting a smaller share?

Despite some design changes that make phones more disposable (hi, non-removable batteries), hardware today is vastly more reliable than it used to be. If you want to use a phone for iii or four years, you might be able to exercise that. Thus, some people are probably just holding onto their phones longer. There'due south besides the trend of increasingly inexpensive hardware. At that place are huge numbers of super-budget Android phones sold on prepaid carriers running Lollipop and even KitKat, and they'll never get updates. In many cases, silicon vendors don't even have commuter binaries for newer versions of Android, which isn't actually Google'due south fault. These phones were produced years ago, merely people are notwithstanding buying them every bit cheap burners.

treble

This is a problem not just because these phones lack modern features for app developers. They're besides insecure by today's standards. After a few years without security patches, your phone could be exploited just by visiting the incorrect website.

Google isn't standing idly by, though. In Android viii.0 Oreo, it added a characteristic called Project Treble. Devices that ship on Oreo accept modular organisation images that make updates easier and more price-constructive. Of course, that requires device makers to actually intendance almost updates. The people selling you a $99 telephone probably never will.

Now read: 25 All-time Android Tips