Report: may publicly shame phone makers who deliver tardy Android updates

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Published 26 May 2016

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Disclosure

may have finally had enough.

According to a Bloomberg report, the company is thinking about turning to public shaming as a way to entice hset manufacturers to step up their Android updates. 

has apparently collected considerable data (something it’s very good at) regarding manufacturers carriers’ update performance shared this information with OEMs carriers. A Sprint executive said he’d seen the details had been feeling the pressure from to push things along.

Even without access to this information, we can assure you it isn’t a pretty picture: only 7.5 percent of the current Android devices are running Marshmallow, which is the latest major version. This after about half a year on the market. Some are slower than others, while the wireless providers have also been known to hold things up for “carrier testing.” 

may roid numbers Android Developers

Each month, publishes details about where each version of Android sts.

tried to improve this with its monthly security updates, though even that has been a very mixed story. Some pledge to follow are late, never follow through, or only put it into motion with their flagship. 

It’s problem number one with Android right now, while an Android Update ll of Shame may sound like a radical idea, it could be the extreme solution that’s necessary.

The story behind the story: Every week we round up all the Android updates, usually there’s some phone or tablet that’s only now getting Marshmallow even though it was released by in October of last year. has tried many tactics to remove the discomfort of tardy updates, such as unbundling core apps putting them in the ay Store. ay Services also updates independently, which provides developers with As they can use right away. But this problem hasn’t gone away, with so many neat features coming to Android N it’ll be a real drag for those who have to wait months after its available to get it.