There’s a very good reason why over-the-air installable system updates are rather slow on Google Pixel phones. Still, something about it should change.
For several years now, updates have been installed on Google phones using a secure process that allows devices to be fully usable during installation. It’s just stupid that the installation process takes half an eternity, even for minor updates. Google developers want to optimize that.
Continuous Updates (A/B): These are installed in the background while devices are in use. Only a short reboot is required. Devices can therefore be used during update installation. Another advantage: reliability. Since the update is installed on the second partition, the previous state can be resumed at any time in the event of an error.
As seen in the Android Open Source Project, a process is currently being worked on that will significantly speed up installation by compressing data. In the best case, the time can be reduced from 23 minutes to 13 minutes with a 2.2 GB update.
As of today, it’s unclear when an accelerated workflow will actually be available on users’ Pixel devices. Android 14 (Fall 2023) would definitely be a good time.
