“Google Is as Close to a Natural Monopoly as the Bell System Was in 1956″

Re:“Google Is as Close to a Natural Monopoly as the Bell Sys... by jorvi on Wednesday May 10, 2017 @04:14PM (#14311235)

I never understood how 'SoC manufacture X doesn't release updates for that SoC' translates into 'we can't update/support this device anymore'. My OnePlus One is whizzing along happily on Nougat (7.1.2) via LineageOS. There's also a well working ported version of OxygenOS 3.1 for it, despite OnePlus having abandoned it on 2.1; Hell, even the Samsung Galaxy S2 can still run Nougat via, again, LineageOS. What's preventing Google, Samsung or OnePlus (who are a lot more well-funded than a ragtag group of devs) from doing the same, aside from pure unfettered greed?

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Re:“Google Is as Close to a Natural Monopoly as the Bell Sys... by scarface74 on Wednesday May 10, 2017 @07:16PM (#14312597)

I never understood how 'SoC manufacture X doesn't release updates for that SoC' translates into 'we can't update/support this device anymore

Apple uses some third party chips but they haven't had that problem. Currently, iOS 10.3 supports the iPhone 5 - released in 2012. I suspect that iOS 11 when it comes out in September will keep support for all 64 bit iPhones. That would mean the iPhone 5s introduced in 2013 will be supported until September 2018.

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Re:“Google Is as Close to a Natural Monopoly as the Bell Sys... by majewsky on Wednesday May 10, 2017 @04:31PM (#14311388)

Because the LineageOS installer does not give any warranty that it won't brick the phone beyond repair. If Google updates Android and it uses an unsupported Qualcomm driver and that thing breaks anything, Google may be held liable in court and forced to pay damages.

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