Originally Posted by Anika Hanson:
“It's disgusting that phones released in 2014 (S5, LG G5) won't be getting updated in 2016. Yes it might be that the older snapdragon chip can't support vulkan but they need to make a modified version of the OS without the Vulkan API. Apple update their devices for 4-5 years and if there is a feature an older phone can't support it's simply left out. It shouldn't be an all or nothing approach.”
Sadly that's a manufacturer "thing" not an android issue. As per another thread it's worth noting that android is being split more and more I to its component apps, allowing most visible features to be updated as regularly as they want - launcher, dialler, calendar, contacts, play store, play services etc etc.
It does make the actual uogrades less exciting maybe, as most of the nougat changes are under the bonnet (battery life improvements, full split screen functionality etc).
Almost any android phone out there can go and grab the latest launcher, the latest messaging app, maps, music player, book reader, service framework (?) from the Play store - and even update the Play store itself