All in one update, that’s Google’s plan. But the delivery of updates, which is very simple for the user, brings with it challenges that can end in disaster in the meantime. Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro owners know that.
- Google wants to implement a very simple update release.
- But that also requires a certain willingness to take risks.
- There was a drastic example with the Pixel 6 models.
Combining a major feature update and a security patch is risky. And this time the plan backfired. Google is heavily criticized for its update strategy for the Pixel phones and should reconsider it for the future. But before we get to that, we need to unravel a bit of recent history. Because you have to understand the story first to see the problem.
Google had to delay delivery of the very extensive December update for the Pixel 6 cell phones. As a result, the security-related changes for these phones have also been delayed. Which has to do with the fact that Google is now delivering new updates almost every month, which, in addition to the Android Security Bulletin, also bring some Pixel-specific changes. Actually a great thing for the users.
Google puts it all together in one update, but that can go wrong
And yet a fatal decision, as we know it today. Because these updates, which are now significantly larger due to bug fixes and new features, pose a risk for users and the company. The proof was in the Pixel 6 models. Like all other small updates, Google was only able to test the huge December update internally. That wasn’t enough. Despite 80 bug fixes, it brought serious new errors.
The update was later suspended and the more recent January update was also delayed again. Some owners of the new Pixel 6 cell phones spent a good month and a half with an outdated security status. Which this time even posed a real problem because third-party apps were able to prevent emergency calls due to a bug on the Pixel phones. The urgent bug fix for this was delayed because of the factors just mentioned.
This story shows that Google should deliver the security-related changes independently of other updates. This would stand in the way of simplifying the update process, but there seems to be almost no alternative for more security. There would then be a security update for the users and a separate feature/bug fix update.