Fed up with the speed of updates, Google may take back control of Android

Google is about to take back the leading role in Android upgrades, which will fundamentally change the current development and update model of the Android ecosystem. Theregister reported that Richard Windsor, an analyst at Edison Investment Research, believes that Google has become fed up with the slow upgrade speed and may take back the control of firmware upgrades from hardware players at any time. Windsor said that the slow progress of Android 6.0, the so-called Marshmallow upgrade, has directly affected the launch of Google's new products, such as Now on Tap. He believes that in order to improve the user experience, Google will directly take over the firmware upgrade, while in the past, they have handed this task to manufacturers and operators.

"Google will eventually take full control of Android, integrating the entire operating system into their service layer Google Mobile Services (GMS). Only in this way can Google end the high market fragmentation that has plagued Android products for a long time and directly control the sales of software," Windsor pointed out. "The result is that Google devices will eventually become like iOS or Windows 10 products, and manufacturers will obviously no longer have any power to modify them."

Windsor pointed out that, according to Edison statistics, Marshmallow has only been installed on 1.2% of Android devices so far, despite being launched roughly at the same time as Apple's iOS 9 upgrade. However, the new iOS has covered 87% of Apple products, which is of course due to Apple's tight control over its mobile product ecosystem.

Without the latest version of the operating system for Android hardware, Google will naturally be unable to release new software and service upgrades. Windsor believes that this is why Google will eventually decide to fully manage Android itself and ensure that all phones and tablets can keep up with the latest software releases.

"We estimate that at the same time, Google's hardware requirements will be greatly strengthened to ensure that their software can run smoothly."

"While this is certainly good for Google, improving user experience and strengthening the company's profitability, it could be a fatal blow to those handheld device companies that have been in a bad situation for a long time. Now, mobile phones have almost become commodities, and only Samsung can continue to maintain a profit margin of more than 2% to 4%."

Google has shown some signs of tightening the reins on Android, launching a crackdown on rooted phones earlier this month by making Google Pay available only on unlocked phones.