If you are interested in smartphones you may have heard the term stock Android. For instance, you may have heard reviewers saying that a particular phone has stock Android or pure Android. There is a high chance that your phone doesn’t come with stock Android. What is stock android, its benefits, and why brands don’t give it? We will understand everything be be here.
What is Stock Android?
Stock Android refers to the default version of Android. In case you don’t know, stock Android in purest or unmodified form is AOSP which stands for Android open source program. All the Android versions are based on this. This state of OS doesn’t come with any apps that we use on a day-to-day basis.
This state of the OS is not usable for ordinary people like you and me. For this reason, google installs it’s application like the play store. When the brands use it without modification it’s called stock android. This is because it doesn’t matter which brand of device you use, you will have the same experience.
Also read, Developer Options Android – Everything You Need to Know
Benefits of Stock Android
At this moment you know what stock Android is. It’s time to understand its benefits. So let’s discuss them in detail.
1. Less Bloatware
The most prominent benefit of using a stock Android device is that it has less bloatware compared to custom UI. For instance, you get a few preinstalled apps when you have a device with stock UI(android). Most of them are essential if not all. You get to choose what apps you want to install.
While the story with the custom android is entirely different. You get a lot of apps and games pre-installed. Do you know the worst part about it? You can’t uninstall them all. You may be able to remove sponsored apps, but you can’t remove the brand’s apps.
For instance with Samsung devices, you get Samsung Pay, Samsung apps store, etc. With Xiomi you get Get apps(Xiomi’s app store), themes, security apps, cleaner, mi service, etc. These two are just examples, the story is similar for every brand that uses custom Android.
2. Better Performance
Another huge benefit of using stock UI is its great performance. This is because it is far cleaner as compared to custom UI. For this reason, the processor has less burden on it, resulting in better overall performance.
3. Fewer Bugs
Android is known for its instability. All thanks to customs. It is less stable if we compare it with other popular OS such as iOS. This is because Android brands launch 2-3 phones every month, that too whit different chips inside. On the other hand, Apple launches just 3-4 phones in a year with the same chip. This gives iOS developers a whole year to work on the OS. Talking about Android, developers get much less time to optimize apps. The situation gets even worse because companies add a layer over it in the name of the skin. Which makes optimizing them even more challenging resulting in more bugs. Don’t get me wrong, some brands still optimize the OS well.
4. Secure and Reliable
Apart from faster, there are many key areas in which stock UI is far better. One such factor is security. Oftentimes customers face issues due to vulnerable software. Brans buy and sell user data for their profit. This has been the case for years now. The good part here is we don’t get to see these kinds of things in stock ui phones. This is because the UI comes directly from Google to you, making it reliable.
4. Stock Android is Minimalist and Adds Free
A few years back there was less competition in the smartphone industry. Hence, smartphones were not as valuable for money as they are these days. But in the past couple of years, the scenario has changed completely.
But the sad part is that brands these days show ads to make smartphones less expensive, resulting in a terrible user experience. The situation gets even worse when we see ads in the settings app and sometimes full-screen ads. Even though you can disable them, not everyone knows that. Whereas stock UI is much cleaner and doesn’t show ads.
These were some of the benefits of having a device with stock UI. Moreover, it has so many other benefits as well.
Why do we see Fewer Smartphones with Stock Android?
Now you know the benefits of stock UI. You may be thinking why brands don’t offer it? Let us find the answer in detail.
Custom UI is More Profitable for Brands
As you saw in the above example, it is more profitable for brands. This is because brands can customize it as they want. Some of the examples are showing ads and adding bloatware. The apps and games you see preinstalled when you set up your new device are sponsored. As a result not using custom UI will affect their revenue.
To Make Their Product Look Unique
Apart from making money, this is the most essential factor in why brands use their skin. In the absence of custom skin, every other device will look and feel similar. So it will become challenging for a brand to establish itself as unique. Moreover, brands can only customize software as most brands don’t have their hardware.
Who Should Not Choose Stock Android?
Till now we have discussed the good part of the stock UI. But for some people, this might not be the best option. Don’t scratch your head, I will explain it. As we know people have different preferences. If you are a person who loves customization and experimentation, it may not be the best choice. The reason behind that is having a custom ui adds extra features. Although, the preference can vary from person to person.
Wrapping Up
With all that being said, we have come to the end of the article. We came to know that stock UI is overall a better and more reliable UI. However, there are very few phones that run on this. Let’s hope to see more stock of ui phones in the future.
