This year Samsung literally jumped over its head in an attempt to prove that it and only it can be considered the real leader of the smartphone market. For the sake of this, Koreans decided to abandon the image of a lazy and non-customer-oriented manufacturer, starting to release updates for their smartphones even earlier than Google. With fresh enthusiasm, which, by the way, has not dried up until their time, Samsung began to release security patches for the next month at the end of the previous one. As a result, it turned out that the May update was released in the last days of April, the April update in March, and the March update in February. At one point, I even believed the Galaxy were the best smartphones in terms of support. But this is not the case.
Monthly update value for Samsung is not as high as for Google Pixel
Why security updates are needed
The monthly security updates began as a response to Google's accusations that experts have poured about defense mechanisms Android. They say, despite their presence, there were so many vulnerabilities in the system that not a single function aimed at protection could work as it should.
Pixel Feature Drop is Google's initiative to extend the functionality of its smartphones with security updates
To fend off accusations, Google began the practice of issuing monthly security patches, which were supposed to fix all flaws and bugs in the system. They were found by an initiative group, which then passed on data about the shortcomings to the developers, who were already working on the update. But pretty soon it turned out that manufacturers ignore these patches, and users are not eager to install them because of the non-obvious benefits.
Therefore, Google has figured out that, in addition to fixing vulnerabilities, it will offer users functional innovations. To do this, the company even launched a new initiative called Pixel Feature Drop, in which it diluted security updates with fresh and really useful features. But only for their smartphones. And this is Samsung's first problem.
Samsung Smartphone Security
Samsung smartphones don't get the same chips that get 'pixels' with every security update
Despite the efforts of Koreans to become better for their customers and at least somehow bypass Google, the value of the same update for a Google Pixel will always be higher than for even the most expensive Galaxy. After all, the search giant does not allow third-party manufacturers to introduce the same innovations that it offers to its devices.
As a result, Samsung and everyone else find themselves in a difficult situation. On the one hand, updates come and go on time. But, on the other hand, the only thing that users see is regular notifications about the need to confirm the installation of a fresh build – after all, the bug fix cannot be seen or touched.
If so, why update something? This is the question that arises from users who think that Samsung is performing so poorly that it is forced to fix its own mistakes made in the previous month every month.
How fragmentation hurts Android
One UI has much broader functionality, and it hurts it
The second problem that prevents Samsung from getting a good warmth in the glory of timely updates is fragmentation. After all, if you remember, Google Pixel is based on pure Android, while Galaxy is based on One UI firmware. Despite the common software framework, many of their components are very different from each other. Therefore, their problems turn out to be radically different, although for some reason they try to fix them using the same method.
See for yourself. Samsung and Google Pixel smartphones have a different set of characteristics, functions, system tools and even hardware. When Google develops another security update, it focuses on the capabilities of the stock Android and the bugs that result from them. As a result, conventionally speaking, pixels have 1 vulnerability for every 10 functions. But for Galaxy, this ratio will be different precisely due to a wider range of possibilities.
Is it worth installing updates
Samsung dumps all One UI innovations at once, and does not share them like Google
Of course, the update that Google is offering Samsung fixes some of the bugs. But only to the extent that Google itself decided. At the same time, vulnerabilities specific to One UI remain unpatched or are being fixed, but not so actively. As a result, the refresh efficiency of Samsung smartphones drops significantly relative to Pixel smartphones.
Does this mean that updates are useless? Not at all. Correcting vulnerabilities – even partial ones – is a really rewarding business and should not be neglected. After all, patching 3 out of 5 holes, whatever one may say, is better than leaving all 5 open. Well, and, of course, you need to take into account that Samsung has become a victim of its own advancement. The abundance of mastered technologies banally does not allow Samsung to develop its smartphones as clearly as Google. After all, if you remember, the function of wireless data exchange Quick Share appeared in Galaxy devices at the beginning of the year, and for 'pixels' it will appear only towards the end.