Yes, indeed.
Regarding release cycle Google is the driver with a “policy” of annual release and AOSP inherits that.
You are probably aware of the relationship between Lineage numbering and Android versions the link is a graphic of that numbering to include /e/OS.
Lineage often creates “bleeding edge” builds weekly; /e/OS releases an update monthly, with a significant lag compared with Lineage.
/e/OS early version numbering looked like e-0.xx, moved to e-1.xx and moved to e-2.1 some seven or eight months ago.
The “major updates” 1 and 2 added significant improvements, drawing the /e/OS experience increasingly further from vanilla Lineage; of course exists https://lineage.microg.org/ and it is actually this from which /e/OS is forked.
Maybe this thread throws light on the way that smartphones are not supported “for ever” Oldest phone with newest Android version (just for fun).
Manufacturers in cooperation with Google are not especially interested in keeping devices going for years; maybe in the current climate this is changing. Maybe I stop before becoming too prejudiced, but I think I would have commented in 2017, that Google running kernel 3.1x was bordering on antiquated.
Loosely, my 10+ year old PC has Kernel: 6.1.0-23-amd64 on Debian bookworm; while my 2019 Motorola with e-2.7-u-xxx has kernel 4.9.337 thanks to the free operating system supplied to Motorola by Google.
I guess I did not include the bit of “release policy” which tends to prevent ongoing progress … /e/OS has stopped their releases of Android 11 (R) some time after Google stopped security patch updates for that version in February 2024.
The SPL stop about February in recent years for the outgoing Android version.