Did you ever wonder why Android OS updates take forever to reach customer devices, if they arrive at all? Smartphone maker HTC has shared the circuitous route an Android update must travel before it reaches consumer devices. It’s all laid out in the infographic below.
Apple, in comparison, faces a single stakeholder when it comes to iOS updates: themselves. They need only regulatory approval and technical certification from carriers — Apple famously released their cross-platform messaging service, iMessage, without consulting any of their carrier partners.
The effects of this dichotomy are illustrated by the latest version distribution statistics. Cupertino’s newest operating system, iOS 7, now runs on more than three-quarters of all iOS devices, while Android 4.4 “KitKat” is found on a relatively miniscule 1.1 percent of devices, according to Google’s developer dashboard.
