Originally Posted by
Gdwheel Jerry knows a lot more than I do about what goes into the programming behind the software versions, but I will say that the bluetooth issues are not present with iPhone and Samsung phones used in the same vehicles. Some companies are further behind in security and updates, but those two are generally pretty up-to-date. I am hopeful that Google can and will fix the bluetooth issues or I will be selling my Pixel XL.
Samsung and Apple aren't using the same Bluetooth version. They also may be using third-party codecs (think add-ons) that car stereo makers also use.
Bluetooth, well, it sucks. It's an open implementation that plenty of talented people and companies support and when everything is right and the same it works great for data transfer at relatively low speed with little impact on battery. That's what it was designed to do.
The problem is that no matter how hard the maintainers try to make updates backwards compatible, they never are fully 100% compatible with things running older versions. Most of the time this isn't too big of a deal, but sometimes it means two things just don't work well together.
People making phones and computers and tablets can be slow to update to newer versions sometimes (and we yell and complain because of it) but other things that use Bluetooth — expensive headphones, cars, high-end motorcycle helmets, etc. hardly ever update. That's why a 5 year old phone works when paired to a 5 year old car's audio system, but a brand new phone might not. The divide between Apple and Android also doesn't help, because when cars *do* get updated, it's usually to provide better support for the iPhone or iPod.
I dunno how you fix it. A car stereo usually isn't filled with important user data or susceptible to being hacked by a man in the middle setup at Starbucks. It really doesn't need updated past the version that makes everything work the best it can. But phones are different and we want them to stay secure.