New service ranks smartphone manufacturers by number of updates
There are many contentious topics in the realm of Android smartphones - be it notches, design materials or how many cameras a phone should have. However, one thing pretty much everyone agrees on, is that manufacturers should provide prolonged support in the form of updates, especially for expensive flagship devices. This is why the new AOSMark service will help consumers make a more informed choice - by ranking brands by the number of software updates they push out on average.
AOSMark ranks Android smartphone manufacturers on a scale from 0 to 6, with 6 being the highest. On their website, the team shares that they hope their service leads to more people demanding software updates, because "being on newer Android OS versions is essential to use new apps, cool OS features and better security." They have also provided a list of the best twenty manufacturers, as well as a hall of fame for most updated devices.
As expected, Google tops the chart as the manufacturer with most updates. However, there are quite a few surprises further down. Wileyfox, Zebra and other virtual unknowns (to the average consumer) are ahead of mainstream brands, such as Samsung, HTC and Motorola. The Hall of Fame can also be an eye-opener, with Sony devices occupying two of the top three slots.
If you are wondering how the team behind the AOSMark project reached these rankings, you should first know that minor version updates are usually not considered: "the score include only updates to Android versions that changed API levels*. For example, Android 7.0 -> 7.1 is considered one upgrade even though both their names are Nougat. But Android 7.1 -> 7.1.1 is not considered as an upgrade since their API level is unchanged. Additionally, security updates and other minor updates are not counted."
This means there is room for improvement in their ranking methods. It is also noticeable that manufacturers like Google, which only offers flagships, obviously perform better than those which offer low and mid-range phones too - these devices are less likely to receive as much support. Currently, AOSMark does not take update timeliness into account either, but the team hopes to add this in the future.
What do you think of AOSMark? Are you excited that there is finally a service which ranks manufacturer by number of updates? Let us know in the comments.
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