Google could paying OEMs to make sure Android updates are released faster
Remember in the early days of Android where it could take months before a major update was released for your phone? These days, OEMs are moving a lot faster than ever, where we’re seeing updates being released a month after Google has announced its availability.
It turns out that part of the reason why some OEMs are moving much faster than they did back in the day could be because Google is paying them. This is according to the ongoing antitrust trial between Google and the Department of Justice, where during the trial, it was revealed that Google could be incentivizing OEMs to push out updates faster by giving them a cut of ad revenue.
According to some of the answers Google gave during the trial, it seems that Google uses a revenue sharing structure to encourage OEMs like Samsung, HTC, and Motorola to promote their devices and maintain them better over time, such as through updates. It is kind of eye opening that Google could be using money to make sure OEMs stay on top of Android updates, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing.
For example, Samsung is one of the fastest OEMs when it comes to releasing new updates for their phones, so getting a cut of Google’s ad revenue encourages Samsung to push out updates faster, we’re all for it.
Source: The Verge