Actually, it pretty much does. That model relies on the Android user updating the security updates on a regular basis, taking an active responsibility for their own security. The percentage of users who do that is very small. Anything that relies on the alacrity and reliability of users to take care of updating their own devices in a toxic environment is a dangerous model. It assumes every user is a perfect device manager with nothing but time on their hands and interest in taking the time to seek out what's necessary to properly manage their Android devices.
In addition, many Android users rely on their carriers for updates. . . and the carriers aren't very good at doing updates and even some manufacturers aren't:
Android phone makers skip Google security updates without telling users – study
The Guardian, by Samuel Gibbs, April 13, 2018.Users told smartphone’s software has been updated with monthly patches when it hasn’t, new research claims
We found several vendors that didn’t install a single patch but changed the patch date forward by several months. That’s deliberate deception, and it’s not very common,’ says Security Research Labs founder Karsten Nohl. (Photograph: Not Shown due to being a Getty Image)
Some Android smartphone manufacturers are skipping security patches without notifying users, instead claiming their smartphone’s software is up to date with Google’s monthly security releases, researchers say.
Researchers from Germany’s Security Research Labs (SRL) conducted a two-year study into the state of Android security focused around the monthly updates that Google issues and urges smartphone manufacturers to install.
These monthly updates are crucial for keeping smartphones secure, fixing collections of known bugs and holes each month to keep hackers at bay. But the researchers found there is often a hidden “patch gap” between what the manufacturers tell the users and what they actually do to the software – some simply tell people they have updated the phones without actually patching anything.
This is an excerpt, more information at the link. . .
Older versions of Android are in even a more precarious situation. Nice try.
iOS is not special.
Interesting you'd say that. The proof of the pudding is always in the eating.
There are now over one BILLION active iOS devices in the wild, fuzzy. Exactly where are the matching levels of malware commensurate with that number of active devices? You claim is that it is equivalently vulnerable to the other platform which has millions of different malware in the wild targeting that platform. You certainly cannot claim security by obscurity due to low numbers of distribution for iOS with over a billion active devices. Your Linux devices can certainly be counted there, but not iOS or even Macs. So, I again ask you, Fuzzy, where is all the malware for the iOS platform?
What is labeled as “malware” also matters, often just apps that have requested permissions that the user GRANTED.
Also nice try trying to obfuscate the meaning of "Malware." It doesn't wash.
You’re distorting a lot of information and the landscape is constantly changing. Malware is considered to be a wide ranging set of threats, including spyware. Hackers will always target the most deployed systems, which is Android and Windows, period.
As iOS has become more widespread it’s getting more attention and the rates of change (in successful exploits) are increasingly worse for iOS.
For your own well being, I’m just recommending that you don’t have too much faith in iOS, ...goes for everyone.