C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Sundar Pichai not too long ago testified on the ongoing Google antitrust trial.
- Throughout his testimony, Pichai admitted that Google strongarms Android OEMs into sustaining their smartphones’ software program.
- Primarily, OEMs that allow telephones languish with out updates see a decreased income share from Google companies.
Over the previous few weeks, we’ve been following the continued Google antitrust lawsuit. Lots of the revelations up to now have been fascinating and even eyebrow-raising however nonetheless very business-focused.
Yesterday, nonetheless, Google CEO Sundar Pichai took to the stand (through The Verge). Throughout his testimony, Pichai revealed a tidbit on how Google operates that provides a greater look backstage and will assist clarify customers’ frustration with Android telephones not seeing safety updates. In line with Pichai, Google financially incentivizes OEMs to replace their telephones. Firms that preserve telephones present with the most recent safety patches see a better income share from Google companies than people who don’t.
In different phrases, the sum of money an OEM makes from you utilizing Google merchandise on its system is correlated to how usually it retains that system updated with safety patches. This implies Google deliberately strongarms OEMs to be higher about updating telephones, which is one thing we didn’t know earlier than. We knew that Google mandates two years of updates for any Android cellphone and strongly encourages extra prolonged help than that, however we didn’t notice there have been monetary incentives concerned.
Pichai additionally mentioned that sure OEMs will neglect to replace telephones even with the understanding that it’ll trigger them to lose out on potential earnings. “Extra effort goes into growing the subsequent model, and updates are expensive,” Pichai mentioned, “so typically [OEMs] make tradeoffs.”
This revelation makes us scratch our heads once we take into consideration corporations like Sony, Motorola, OnePlus, and others that ship solely the naked minimal of updates to a few of their telephones. So far as we are able to inform, that’s cash left on the desk. Nonetheless, the person base is likely to be sufficiently small that the sum of money the corporate would want to spend to maintain the cellphone up to date is larger than the potential income share the OEM may earn from Google. If that’s the case, then not updating the cellphone is a straightforward determination.
Take into consideration this info subsequent time you marvel why your Android cellphone is months behind on the most recent safety patch.
