Google’s 13.3% Android 12 upgrade achievement was not possible without Samsung’s contribution

Android users are eagerly waiting to taste the stable version of Android 13 OS that introduces a slew of new features. Meanwhile, Google has recently updated the OS distribution data on Android studio to reveal that Android 12 is running on 13.3% of phones all over the world.

The company has also mentioned the bars of Android versions and it’s worth noticing that older versions of Android are more popular than Android 12. For instance, Android 11 is currently available on 27% of devices. Whereas, Android 10 and Android 9 are available on 22.3% and 14.5% respectively.

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Compared to the older Android versions, the distribution of Android 12 is very less but whatever it is, Samsung has a significant stake in it.

This achievement was not possible without Samsung’s contribution:

True! Google’s 13.3% Android 12 upgrade achievement was not possible without Samsung’s contribution. That’s because of the company’s software update policy, which made Samsung provide Android 12 updates to older models.

In 2020, Samsung made a major switch in its software update policy that is to provide 3 big Android updates and 4 years of security patches to its flagship and select mid-range phones. Before this, the company used to deliver only 2 major Android updates to even its premium phones.

This software update policy does not just apply to devices that launched after the policy is announced. Samsung also added 2019 devices including Galaxy S10, Galaxy Note 10, Galaxy Fold, Galaxy A51, and Galaxy A41 to the list.

And Android 12 is when we see the policy in full effect. While the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 10 series devices were the first to get advantages of this policy, many other mid-range phones have also received the Android 12-based One UI 4.0 and/or One UI 4.1 upgrades.

That’s why Samsung played a big role in this achievement of Android 12. If it had not provided 3 major updates to its phones including flagship and mid-range, Android 12 would not have reached this graph.

The same will be the case next year as Samsung has again made major changes in its software update policy this year. The company has now promised to deliver 4 major Android OS alongside 5 years of security patch updates to its flagship and select mid-range phones.

This will make the Galaxy Note 10 Lite and Galaxy S10 Lite taste the Android 13-based One UI 5 update, even after the high-end Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy S10 will not receive it.