Google Nexus vs Apple: offering the longest Software Support – Phonandroid

The software support is a key criterion when it comes to competing two constructors or two operating systems like Android and iOS . Excluding software support manufacturers flawed and results in a real fragmentation within the park, Google theoretically offers software support for 18 months on its Nexus smartphones and tablets. Why theoretically? Because in reality is often more. Since 2012, nearly every unit has had two major updates in addition to the original version.

Meanwhile, Apple also supports its equipment for long periods. The iPhone 3GS and 4 have been entitled to four years of support. Ditto for the iPad 2. As for the iPhone 4S, it may boasted of having been updated in 47 months.

Today, Android Police US site publishes new comparative study on the term software support from Apple and Google . On one side, there are the iPhone and iPad and other smartphones and tablet Nexus. A table that allows us to observe that before the arrival of Android Lollipop present on over 20% of iOS devices and 8, the average length of Software Support was 41.2 months for Apple and 21 months in Google.

Taking into account the 2014 versions of the OS and we do get the iPad 2, iPhone 4S, the Nexus 7 (2012), the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 in the calculation, then gives a mean Software Support Apple 43.9 months and 28.2 months for Google . The difference between the two OS pronounced but still significantly reduced since it passes 21.2% to 15.7%. Note that the iPad 2 and the Nexus 7 2012 are the devices that received the longest software support, namely 54 months for the first and 38 months for the second.

It should be noted in passing that if software support is longer at Apple, some updates were sometimes amputees features reserved only to the last generation to date, such as Siri, which debuted with the iPhone 4S and has never been offered on the iPhone 4. That said iPhone users change more often than Android smartphone users.

Finally, note that the results shown in the table have been adapted not to leave the impression that the devices have been updated for longer than they were in reality. The last update of the iPhone 3GS, iOS 6.1.6, is not included, it being deployed five months after the release of iOS 7.

Via