Eh, it’s the same on the Android side of the fence. There are big and small features that Google has been comically slow to crib from iOS.
I’ve definitely said “fucking finally” to things like overflow scrolling animations,
Those things like overflow scrolling, keyboard peak, etc… were only held back because Apple would patent it prevent it from being put into Android and would file frivolous lawsuits against other phone manufacturers to try and get them not to use them, even when some android variants already had it built in before apple patented it in the first place. (I still facepalm at apple trying to sue others over a rounded rectangle shaped phone)
And those patents lawsuits only stopped because other phone companies called bullshit and started threatening apple with their own patents.
and the “wild” idea that users should get 5+ of major OS releases.
TL;DR on this point: not much of an issue anymore.
This isn’t an android/iOS thing, it’s a manufacturer thing. If a chip isn’t supported by it’s manufacturer, then no software on it can be supported. Different manufacturers had different support windows, but Qualcomm became notorious for making chips, then only supporting them for 2 years so they could sell a new “supported” one (and watch the money roll in). Once they saw other the larger players getting pissed off and poking around with the idea of making their own chips, Qualcomm quickly decided that they could support their chips for longer. Now they have to since both Google and Samsung have made public promises for 5-7 year support cycles. Of course, that hasn’t stopped other phones from already reaching 7 years of official support before. (A notable example being Fairphone 2 who used a Qualcomm chip while they were still in their shitty behaviour phase and managed to support it for 7 years, 2 years Qualcomm support then 5 years of their own support despite Qualcomm.)
Also, when Google was pissed at Qualcomm they decided to start modularising their OS and pulling chunks out of it out of needing direct hardware support. This means that even if chip support were to stop, it would only affect the background / lowest-level-invisible-to-the-user parts of the OS, and all the user visible parts of the OS could be updated independently (starting with Project Treble, and going all out with Project Mainline). This basically means that entire chunks of the OS can be updated the same way an app can be, early 2010 Qualcomm companies be damned.
This also has the weird thing of android not really being a “version” per se, one phone might have different components of Android 10/11/12/13/14/etc… running at the same time. The components themselves have their own versions.
Those things like overflow scrolling, keyboard peak, etc… were only held back because Apple would patent it prevent it from being put into Android and would file frivolous lawsuits against other phone manufacturers to try and get them not to use them, even when some android variants already had it built in before apple patented it in the first place. (I still facepalm at apple trying to sue others over a rounded rectangle shaped phone)
And those patents lawsuits only stopped because other phone companies called bullshit and started threatening apple with their own patents.
TL;DR on this point: not much of an issue anymore.
This isn’t an android/iOS thing, it’s a manufacturer thing. If a chip isn’t supported by it’s manufacturer, then no software on it can be supported. Different manufacturers had different support windows, but Qualcomm became notorious for making chips, then only supporting them for 2 years so they could sell a new “supported” one (and watch the money roll in). Once they saw other the larger players getting pissed off and poking around with the idea of making their own chips, Qualcomm quickly decided that they could support their chips for longer. Now they have to since both Google and Samsung have made public promises for 5-7 year support cycles. Of course, that hasn’t stopped other phones from already reaching 7 years of official support before. (A notable example being Fairphone 2 who used a Qualcomm chip while they were still in their shitty behaviour phase and managed to support it for 7 years, 2 years Qualcomm support then 5 years of their own support despite Qualcomm.)
Also, when Google was pissed at Qualcomm they decided to start modularising their OS and pulling chunks out of it out of needing direct hardware support. This means that even if chip support were to stop, it would only affect the background / lowest-level-invisible-to-the-user parts of the OS, and all the user visible parts of the OS could be updated independently (starting with Project Treble, and going all out with Project Mainline). This basically means that entire chunks of the OS can be updated the same way an app can be, early 2010 Qualcomm companies be damned.
This also has the weird thing of android not really being a “version” per se, one phone might have different components of Android 10/11/12/13/14/etc… running at the same time. The components themselves have their own versions.