Core apps update on their own schedule, through the Play store, outside the purview of both the OEM's and carriers.

Sure, there are going to be bells and whistles with the newest update. But major phone functionalities live in the core Google services, not in the UI-driven operating system. That means users on older versions of Android can still enjoy feature updates to Gmail/Maps/Home/Chrome/etc. even without needing the newest OS update. This has been the MO for Google starting with Ice Cream Sandwich. You supposedly use both operating systems, you should already know all this.

On the other hand, iOS core apps are all tied to OS updates. This is fine if you have the last version of the phone but with each OS update there are always reports of phones that are 2+ generations older that perform poorly with newer iterations of iOS. Anecdotally, my wife refuses to update her iPhone 6 to iOS 10 because of reports of user slowdown.

There are pros and cons to each system. But don't act all smug and try to use an argument from 2013 to assume some sort of weird Apple superiority complex.

(As a sidenote, it seems that the Pixel is doing Apple's "it just works" better than Apple these days. It's even got the camera beat.)