Apple iPhone vs. Android Phones’ Sad History of Support
Why people buy Android phones vs. Apple iPhone. And why Android phones are abandoned quickly.
Android Fragmentation vs. Apple iPhone Support
Android Orphans: Visualizing a Sad History of Support by Michael Degusta points out the reality that manufacturers quickly abandons Android devices (aka Android software fragmentation). Degusta describes the fundamental differences of Apple’s business model vs. that of Android’s:
Apple’s way of getting you to buy a new phone is to make you really happy with your current one, whereas apparently Android phone makers think they can get you to buy a new phone by making you really unhappy with your current one.
On Android’s market share “advantage” of being cheap:
So the “low cost” phones that fueled Android’s generally accepted price advantage in this period were basically either (a) cheaper from the outset, and ergo likely outdated & terribly supported or (b) purchased later in the phone’s lifecycle, and ergo likely outdated & terribly supported.
Just one of the many reasons that the Apple iPhone customer satisfaction leads smartphone industry .
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Neat chart, and I don’t deny it, but I can’t help but think it biased the Android devices to the low end. I don’t see very many higher end (for the time) devices, like Samsung Galaxy S Series (AT&T Captive/T-Mobile Vibrant/etc.)
The reason I mention that is the HTC EVO 4G shows updates, but that was launched as a high end Android device. I’m curious if support is something the OEMs are only doing for the high price/margin devices and leaving the cheapies to die early.
Hi Jeff,
Samsung Galaxy S II is introduced this year so it’s currently supported, but judging from Samsung’s other phones, S2 won’t be supported for long.
These are behind and possibly abandoned according to wiki:
HTC EVO 4G (2010 June) on Android 2.3.3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Evo_4G
Samsung Galaxy S (2010 June) 2.2.1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S
2.3.5 is the latest version 2.x, and 4.0 was announced recently (3.x isn’t for phones). They are behind.
For me, buying an Android phone is like paying someone to give you a big, fat headache! It’s a bag of hurt, all the way around.
Yup. Android provides no value to people who want to get things done.