One year cycles. The manufacturers are obsessed with this. In Xataka we have already stated that, as they are stopping innovating the phones and how their life cycle increases, Maybe it’s time to consider biannual update cycles.
It is something applicable to the software in which, year after year, we do not stop seeing how the new version is a tracing of the same With some minor changes. It is curious how Google, one of the precursors of this fever for annual updates, has another philosophy with one of its star products: Chromecast with Google TV.
From Android 12 … to Android 14. If you have a chromecast with Google TV, go to the system settings, you have a gift. Android TV par excellence has just been updated to Android 14 in the UTTC version. 241218.004, with a total weight of 809 MB.
The key is that Chromecast was not working with Android 13I was doing it with Android 12. And Google has accustomed us to version jumps other than those we usually see on mobile phones. The last time this device received a change of version was In October 2022.
And nothing happens. Chromecast with Google TV executes some Android common applications: all those related to multimedia. Nexflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO, Apple TV … It is also able to run games that we find in mobile phones, already throughout these years it has proven not to be an insecure device.
Chromecast receive security patches and their applications are updated quite frequently, proof that it is not strictly necessary to change every version years.
The commercial strategy. Although the biannual version updates may sound sweet, the truth is that for manufacturers it makes a lot of sense to continue launching versions every year. The update cycle, in addition to being a way of loyalty to the user with a device that is constantly receiving improvements, is an incentive to generate demand for new devices.
Some specific improvements, as in the case of Apple, only apply to the latest models and, with even more capable and updated software than that of the previous versions.
This annual update cycle also allows us to make some pressure on the competition, an obsession that ends up marking the rhythm of evolution of the industry.
In the case of the Chromecast, the competition is minimal, and Google can afford the license to space the cycle to the extreme.
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In Xataka | The eight years of updates are already possible on Android. That will happen is something very different