Recent reports claim that Google is a having a hard tough time convincing third-party smartphone manufacturers to adopt encryption protocols on their Android products. While tech giant automatically encrypts its own line of Android Nexus devices, some handset makers resisted to do so arguing that encryption significantly degrades their devices performance.
Google has not insisted the push for the adoption encryption for the fear that it may drive device makers away from its Android platform. It is important to note that the Android operating system is one of Alphabet's, Google's parent company, most profitable division.
Some handset makers claim that adopting encryption methods which include the scrambling of data such as contacts photos and videos can hurt a device's performance, especially the less expensive models.
As a result, experts estimate that less than 10 percent of the world's 1.4 billion smartphones running on the Android platform are encrypted. In comparison, 95 percent of Apple iPhones are fully encrypted.
According to The Wall Street Journal, experts pointed the extreme disparity of figures to Google's massive Android network which covers at least 400 hardware manufacturers and nearly 4,000 devices.
The way Google sells its Android platform is it gives the software to hardware manufacturers provided that they comply with certain requirements to officially use the Android brand as well as key Google services like Maps and Search. At close inspection, as long as device makers follow these stipulations, they are free to use the Android software as they wish.
On the other hand, Apple have complete control over hardware manufacturing and software development for its flagship iPhone devices. In this scheme of things, Apple can enforce the adoption of the latest iOS software therefore spreading encryption protocols as well.
Google said that it is pushing Android device manufacturers to adopt encryption methods. The tech giant said that the latest version of Android dubbed Marshmallow requires device makers to encrypt their respective devices that has high-powered processors. As a result of this effort, Google claims that high-end Android smartphones that are scheduled to be released this year and beyond will be fully encrypted.
According to The Guardian, Google along with companies like Facebook, WhatsApp and Snapchat have all promised to upgrade their encryption protocols in order to make sure that their users are secure.