Google makes seamless updates mandatory for Android 11 devices

Google announces that seamless updating will become a mandatory feature of all Android 11 devices. This feature was first introduced with Android 7.0 "Nougat" in 2016. It basically creates a second, inactive "B" partition on your phone's flash storage that features a copy of the operating system. Operating systems updates are performed on the inactive partition and the Android device switches to the "B" partition after a reboot. When a next update arrives, the update is performed on the then inactive "A" partition, and the system switches back to the "A" partition after a reboot.

This makes updates much faster but requires more storage space:

In a nutshell, this meant that your device would automatically create a second copy of the system and a few other partitions and install the new update on it. Then, the user would only have to restart their device to switch to the updated partition with the latest software thereby greatly speeding up the entire process of installing a software update. Google never made seamless updates a mandatory feature which is why we are yet to see the likes of Samsung and other OEMs implement this feature on their devices. One of the downsides of the feature was that it required an additional internal storage space which is perhaps why many OEMs have shied away from implementing it.

Devices with Android 11 are expected by the end of the year or early 2021.

Via: Neowin