I'd also like to see those statistics. I think we can use the United States as an example. The United States is a relatively rich country and I'm pretty sure it's still the #1 market for Lexus. In the United States the single company with the most phone sales is Apple with about 38% of the market on average over the last 5 quarters. The rest is Android (from many manufacturers). Most of the Android phones sold in the United States are higher end phones that are priced similar to the iPhone. I don't think it's totally unreasonable to assume that more Lexus owners use an iPhone over Android but not significantly more than Android. It's close enough to make supporting both worth it for car makers. It's certainly not 70% iPhone like someone previously said.

As far as why Toyota/Lexus doesn't have Android Auto it has stated "privacy concerns" as the reason.

Subscription service for what? Apple and Google don't charge customers anything for CarPlay or Android Auto and the car manufacturer isn't really providing any service. For the car manufacturer it's really more about hardware to support the software.

 

 

 

[QUOTE=CashGap;10379797]Geez, what BS is all of this? Who gives a flyin' (*&% what phone anybody uses. Poverty? Man O' man some prejudice showing here. Time to move on... BTW I bought a refurbished Samsung S7...

 

[left][QUOTE=bc6152;10379816][QUOTE=CashGap;10379797]

 

You are probably right that Apple and Google do charge car makers some kind of licensing fee but not in any subscription type of thing. That wouldn't really make sense as there isn't really any on going service being offered. As far as the subscription charge you mentioned I'm not sure what that is. The best I can think of is the new subscription service some car makers are starting to offer. It's basically like an open-ended lease that lets you you swap cars more often, includes insurance and I think even maintenance.

That simply isn't true. Published data says that Android is the top choice for phones in poverty markets. That's not the same thing as saying people only buy Android phones because they are in poverty. The best selling Android phones in the United States are the Galaxy S9/S9+ and the Note 9 both from Samsung. While I don't care for them (I don't like the customizations that Samsung makes to Android) they certainly aren't low end garbage. Many other companies including LG, Google and OnePlus make phones with almost identical hardware to the Samsung flagship phones. They aren't "low end garbage" either. There are many reasons people might choose Android over iPhone other than poverty. The huge development community that is possible because of how customizable Android is. With Android you can get pretty much whatever you want if you are willing to tweak it a bit unlike iPhones which you can only do what Apple allows. There are also people like me that simply don't like iPhones because we can't stand stand the software. I HATE iOS. I wouldn't by an iPhone at ANY price. Others chose Android because there are options that aren't absurdly priced and that isn't a matter of "poverty" that's a matter of not wanting to be ripped off. The cheapest iPhone XS is $1,000. That's absurd for a phone that costs about $400 to make. And by the way, Samsung's phones are just as absurdly priced. The top end Note 9 is an absurd $1,150. If you want to give Apple $600+ in profit that's up to you. In February I'll be getting my 2019 ES 300h UL at a price of about $50,000 so I can certainly afford an iPhone but I still refuse to pay such an absurd price for a phone. And even if I was willing to pay such a price (I am certainly able to) I still wouldn't because I don't WANT and iPhone. I'd actually pay MORE for an Android phone than an iPhone. That's how much I don't like iOS. I have a Pixel 2 XL and I wouldn't EVER swap it for an iPhone.

 

The proof is in the reviews. Every time Samsung and Apple have come out with new phones and they have been reviewed the Samsung is the top rated. This has been the case for years. Consumer Reports, Cnet, PC magazine etc. My Samsung S8 cost $400 at Best Buy at the time and beat the Iphone in every review. A true no brainer!!!

 

It's BMW. Like Lexus, they do not offer Android Auto. They do offer CarPlay, but you have to pay a yearly subscription to BMW to access it.

 

I paid $1 for my S6 - bought it right after the S7 came out.

 

I don't think any OS is going to be bug free, or not have issues.

I prefer Android because it gives me more flexibility. As you alluded to.

I'm not going to judge someone by what phone they prefer. Prior to my current phone, I had a smart phone, but it was neither Android nor IOS. I liked how minimilistic it was, with no bloatware.

I could also connect it to the car for calls or have it read texts.

As jimv1983 pointed out though, it's probably about licensing with Android Auto.

 

 

The comment wasn't saying that licensing fees were the cause of not having Android Auto. It was a discussion of if having Android Auto had any license fees. Security concerns are the same thing I've heard (as I mentioned in a previous comment). As for that link, that isn't about Android Auto. Android Auto and Google Mobile Services isn't the same thing.

Again, you are wrong about there being an extreme demographics mismatch between luxury car buyers and Android users. Just because Android happens to be the "platform of poverty" doesn't mean it is ONLY that.

 

Back to the original post - any chance we will get an Android Auto update for our 2019 ES?

 

I've never heard of any car that didn't come with Android Auto (or Apple CarPlay) getting it as a software update so I'm guessing that the 2019 ES probably won't get Android Auto. At least not on cars already built. It will probably, at best, be all 2019s after a certain production date.

 

Until Mazda did this, I'd never heard of it either. I have a couple of friends who literally danced a jig when they read this!!!

https://appleinsider.com/articles/18...ounced-in-2018