Truth of the matter is, not many android devices are on the latest version of software that the Note 5 is on. There is nothing wrong with lollipop other than when google made the announcement marshmallows existed then everyone wanted to know when there device would be updated. The Note 5 runs smooth. I don't recall Samsung saying the note 5 would be updated in December. The carriers have the last say.
Fragmentation is not a note 5 issue its just android. When you have the varying amounts of devices out there, coupled with layered UI's plus carrier standards it takes awhile. The only exception should be on security updates.
So yeah I agree Apple has little to no fragmentation but the android world is much more complex. This is a Google issue that they need to better address.
The problem is that the other phone makers are at such a fevered pace to sell new phone models that they create the fragmentation. If they just came out with a new phone each year and kept it updated, things would be easier. But each company wants to have 6 different phones, with new ones coming out every 6 months, times all the phone manufacturers, multiplied by each carrier, etc... And then you have VZW or ATT demanding carrier specific specs, etc...
It's not Android that is the problem, it is that with so many hands in the cookie jar, Android has to operate in that cluttered environment...
The upside of that fragmentation, is that you have a large pool of options to pick from.
Apple has a new product every 12-16 months... Your choices today are small or large, and then the choice of the color that will be placed under a case anyway. Before the + series, your option was 1 model, with different storage capacities.
On Android... what's your price point? You want a MicroSD slot? Removable battery? You need an HDMI port? What form factor? How about a slide out physical keyboard? Do you want an HD screen or not?
You can literally get the exact phone that you want... It's like going to 31 flavors... Versus the old Henry Ford days of, "You can have any color you want, so long as it's black"...
With choices and options, comes fragmentation... You can't have it any other way... If you want no fragmentation, your options are to move to a single hardware platform designed hand in hand with the software, and that means Apple, or the Nexus line...
The plus of Android's fragmentation, in addition to choices, is that it pushed the envelope further and faster for what a smartphone can do, faster than Apple. Apple may have started the ball rolling with the first iPhone, but Android has since taken the lead and is a juggernaut now and Google has officially taken Apple's place as the world's most valuable company. Android was a big part of it. Not because of the OS itself, but having Android on more devices in the world than any other OS in history, has helped push Google to the top... They really are an amazing company.
At this point, I agree, they should get things under control. They have the money and clout to man-handle the carriers the way that Apple does and TELL them how it is going to be... They can tell the carriers that updates are going to be pushed from Google directly, or at least from the Manufacturers, in a timely fashion, and then push those manufacturers to reduce the fragmentation...
What are they gonna do, leave Android? What will the carriers do, stop selling Android phones?
No way. The Android phones outsell Apple all day long. And Apple is already doing things the way that Google would be demanding, so leaving Android and only selling Apple wouldn't make any sense...
Google just needs to do it.