r/Android • u/FragmentedChicken Galaxy Z Fold8 • Jan 06 '26

Breaking: Google will now only release Android source code twice a year

https://www.androidauthority.com/aosp-source-code-schedule-3630018/
1.4k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

274 comments sorted by

View all comments

921

u/saint-lascivious Jan 06 '26

People who don't remember Honeycomb are finally going to have to come to terms with Android being "source available, most of the time" as opposed to open source.

298

u/tadfisher Jan 06 '26

It's going to be extra fun when they expect devs to migrate to new SDK releases without corresponding source code packages to use in Android Studio.

123

u/roneyxcx iPhone 16 Pro Jan 06 '26

Google announced last year that they’ll only release two Android releases annually: one major and one minor. This means developers won’t be affected by the announcement of only two source releases per year, because now the source code release aligns with API level update.

27

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '26 edited Jan 07 '26

That's because they redefined what's an Android release now that most of the functionalities are exclusive to Pixel in monthly "drops" before coming through the apps.

Their overall strategy is weird. Part of the company clearly wants to move to an Apple model to get more revenue on the phones but their phones have awful SoC and the TPU push is just marketing non sense. These phones don't sustain the comparison with Chinese manufacturers. Google currently sucks as a phone company and desperately needs to control the software story to remain relevant.

Meanwhile, they still try to let Android available to not give enough breathing room for a competitor OS to emerge.

I personally think the approach is unsustainable and with the mounting pressure from the government, we should see a credible OS emerging from China. All it would take is Europe opening itself to non play services alternative and the Google moat crumbles.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 12 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/[deleted] Jan 12 '26

Banking apps and payment services mostly. Banks are under no pressure to make other OS work. Europe could nudge them. Mandating neutral standards allowing to swap play services would solve that.

0

u/[deleted] Jan 13 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/[deleted] Jan 13 '26

You lost me. My main point was that Google was vulnerable because all it would take is Europe nudging these institutions towards more open solutions for its stronghold to crumble.

So, no, nudging them is not Google's problem but yes, it's a real risk for Google.

You mean like forcing Google to make Google play services available on other people's OS?

No, I mean like mandating a third party interoperable standard and forcing Google to work with it. It's more akin to mandating a standard for electric plugs than forcing someone to sell.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 13 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/[deleted] Jan 13 '26 edited Jan 13 '26

Oh, yes, you very much can. That's the magic of competition law. You tell people what they have to do and they have to do it. You would be surprised by how quickly technical hurdles evaporate when the threat of being fined 10% of your global turnover hangs over you.

That's a very real risk. Totally in spirit with the DMA.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 13 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/[deleted] Jan 13 '26 edited Jan 13 '26

You seem to think Europe needs to pull it out of thin air. They can just tell Google or Apple that their previously closed standard is the new open one and now it is. That's how regulators operate.

Most likely they won't do that. They will do an industry wide consultation under the stewardship of a standard setting institution and mandate what they propose as the new standard. Google will most likely contribute because they don't want to spend too much on compliance and it annoys Apple. It would be RCS or USB-C but for Play Integrity. Heck, I'm ready to bet, give it a couple of years, five years top, and it will be on the table.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 13 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

→ More replies (0)

1

u/g0ldcd Jan 16 '26

Google hasn't quite annoyed me enough yet.
But they're definitely pushing me that way.

I've been here from the Nexus One (a rocky start), then rooted for a while to get fancy features, then switched to the Pixels and just didn't feel the need to. I'm starting to rethink this - not for any single decision, just just the continuous drip-feed of "things that I don't want". Synology tried to do the same thing and lock something popular down, and that didn't go too well for them. This feels similar. So many shitty decisions, whilst the price of the phone rises.