Google Nexus and Apple: Who offers the longest software support?

Software support is an important criterion when it comes to competition between two manufacturers or two operating systems. Android and iOS. Besides software support from manufacturers that leaves something to be desired and leads to real fragmentation within the fleet, Google offers theoretical 18 months of software support on Nexus smartphones and tablets. Why theoretically? Because in reality, it’s usually more. Almost every device since 2012 has received two major updates over the original version.

• on the same subject : which manufacturers offer the longest software support

Apple also supports its devices for extended periods of time. iPhone 3GS and 4 received four years of support. Same for iPad 2. The iPhone 4S, on the other hand, can boast of having been updated for 47 months.

Today, the American site Android Police published a new comparative study on the subject. Duration of software support at Apple and Google. There are iPhones and iPads on one side and Nexus smartphones and tablets on the other. Here is a table that lets us see that before Android Lollipop, which is available in over 20% of terminals and iOS 8, the average duration of software support was 41.2 months at Apple and 21 months at Google.

If we take into account the 2014 versions of the operating system and include in the calculation the iPad 2, iPhone 4S, Nexus 7 (2012), Nexus 4 and Nexus 10, we get an average support software. 43.9 months at Apple and 28.2 months at Google. The difference between the two operating systems remains significant, but has decreased significantly as it went from 21.2% to 15.7%. It should be noted that the iPad 2 and Nexus 7 2012 are the devices that benefited from the longest software support, the first being 54 months and the second 38 months.

By the way, it is worth noting that some updates are sometimes made if software support is longer at Apple. featureless It is reserved for the latest generation, such as Siri, which was introduced with the iPhone 4S and was never introduced on the iPhone 4. However, iPhone users switch their smartphones more often than Android users.

Finally, it’s worth noting that the results in the table have been adapted so as not to leave the impression that devices have been updated longer than they actually are. The latest iPhone 3GS update, iOS 6.1.6, is not included as it was made available five months after the release of iOS 7.

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