Android 11: Google makes A/B partition mandatory for seamless OS updates

Looks like Google is planning to make ‘seamless’ OS updates mandatory for all the future smartphones that will run Android 11 or Android R. And it is planning to do that by making ‘A/B Partition’ setup compulsory, as per a report by XDA Developers. It is worth adding that A/B Partition has been there since Android 7 but Google never made it compulsory for Android phone makers (OEMs).

How does A/B Partition work?

These are two read-only partitions in your smartphones that are exactly the same. Each includes the system, vendor, boot, and product partitions. Usually, the handset runs on one partition, for instance Partition A. Meanwhile the exactly same Partition B stays inactive.

However, when your phone gets an OS update, it downloads the new software in Partition B. On the front end you just see the notification of the OS being downloaded. Meanwhile the update gets downloaded on the Partition B, it gives you time to keep working normally like you do on Partition A.