The OEM side is usually pretty easy / trivial in comparison. And there are a number of OEMs who would happily push updates but can't, because they can't get hardware packages from Qualcomm / Amlogic / Freescale / etc.
That, more than anything else, holds back new Android releases on lots of hardware.
It's a game I wish they'd get out of entirely. There's no such thing as a useful carrier overlay.
Six months and counting, waiting for Verizon to approve the Nougat update on my HTC One M9. It has literally hit everyone else:
[0]http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/12/09/unlocked-htc-one-m9-...
[1]http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/02/23/android-7-0-nougat-o...
[2]http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/03/21/t-mobile-variant-htc...
[3]http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/04/12/htc-one-m9-sprint-ge...
[4]http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/05/16/atts-htc-one-m9-upda...
Honestly, what are they doing, and why does it take them multiple months to do it?
This problem is made worse on Verizon and Sprint which use CDMA 3G networks, as opposed to the worldwide GSM standard.
Also this could be a result of marketing as well. You can get the latest Android on a new device, or you can wait an indeterminate amount of time (a few months to never) to get a free update on your old device.
Google needs to fix their upgrade story. Even if the North American customers continued to run old vulnerable versions forever, updating everyone else's systems would be a tremendous improvement. (It would also make it difficult for the US carriers to continue those particular business shenanigans.)
Prior to the iPhone changing how phones were sold-- carriers meddled with everything so they could get their hands in media playback, app sales, feature upgrades etc. I don't think much has changed in this where anyone gives them an inch (which is nearly everyone but Apple).
Note: I worked for T-Mobile for four years prior and a little after the originals iphone came out.
I guess not. I guess instead they rely on the GSM specification to allow seamless independence between the phone and the carrier for 99.999% of the phones out there (if not more).
So why do they need to "test" the remaining 0.001% when they have a update in user-facing functionality the carrier will never see or interoperate against?
No carrier in Europe does this.
Does your ISP control what OS updates you can download? No. And why should they?
That carriers needs to do testing is a lie perpetuated to allow for customer-hostile business-practices. Stop repeating it.
The carrier can still, of course, test the new firmware all they like - they just shouldn't be able to interfere with its release.
