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You could argue Google have already fixed the bugs - in Android 4.4 and newer - and that it's the carrier and manufacturer's responsibility to issue those updates. In many cases even if Google issues a patch, carriers and manufacturers don't bother to issue an update for their own devices. So is Google really entirely to blame here?

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It's a bit of a strange relationship:

The manufacturers can't insist that google support older versions with proper patch releases for bugs like this, because they aren't paying for it.

On the other hand, google really can't expect to drive the manufacturers test & release cycles. I expect that even a minor release is an expensive testing effort on their part, so they are understandably reluctant to do this off cycle.

I think this is the point of some of google's recent changes, but it's unclear how well that will work in practice.

As they say: you can't have your cake and eat it too.

If Google takes credit for those phones and stamps its logo of approval on the phone, they need to take the blame for the consequences.

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