reported that Google requires system update support based on virtual A/B instructions for the GMS license on devices equipped with Android 13. Thanks to this, smartphone manufacturers such as Samsung and OPPO will usher in a long-lost seamless update experience after lagging behind competitors for several years. In fact, as early as the era of Android 7.0 Nougat, Google had introduced A/B partitioning solutions for this mobile operating system to accelerate software updates.
(via XDA-Developers)
By introducing support for copying content to the "A" partition and "B" partition, the system can bypass the "active partition" currently in use and implement background updates in the "inactive partition", and then switch through a quick restart.
For Android devices, this move can significantly improve the software update speed, but unfortunately some original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have not followed up.
For example, Samsung devices take longer to complete the update of the application software, resulting in the failure to use the device normally within a few minutes.
Asus ZenFone 9 - Treble Info Screenshot
Previously, Google tried to force enable virtual A/B partition support on all devices equipped with Android 11.
but in the end the company gave up this requirement and updated the Android 11 Compatibility Definition Document (CDD), becoming a "recommended but not mandatory" A/B system update.
Even so, there are still some Android OEM manufacturers that use other extensions to provide a seamless update experience on their own devices.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 - Treble Info Screenshot
The good news is that Google is planning to enable Android 13 devices that apply for GMS service certification to force A/B partition support to completely change the status quo.
However, Esper pointed out that the only exception is that the Android 13 boot device comes with older vendor software — which is mainly related to Google's on-demand freeze (GRF) plan/VTS testing.
If all goes well, we will see in the future that most Android 13 OEM devices pre-installed with GMS services are added to seamless update support based on virtual A/B partitions.
