Google released the final version of the Android 9 Pie last year and the first phones to get the software update were the Pixels, Nokia 7 Plus, OnePlus 6, some Sony Xperia devices, among others. So far, we have seen several phones from Nokia, OnePlus, Asus, Samsung and others get the latest software. Several media reports suggest that Google is gearing up to introduce Android Q (or whatever the search giant may call the next software version) and will release the software very soon. Of late, we have heard several features about that Google is planning to bring to the consumers with the Android Q software. The most talked about them all is the dark mode. A news about the Android Q has been leaked and it suggests that more and more smartphones will get the Android Q Beta update when compared to Android 9 Pie.
Android Q Coming Soon
Google is planning to officially take the wraps off Android Q software at the company’s very own Developer’s conference Google I/O. The developer’s conference is scheduled to take place on May 7, 2019. To recollect last year’s Google I/O Developer’s meet was hosted at almost the same time. A report coming from XDA Developer website suggest that after this year’s I/O event the Android P software will last for a few more months and will be later taken over by the then latest software Android Q.
To recall, besides Pixels and Nexus Google partnered with several smartphone OEMs to run early previews of the Android 9 Pie on some of their compatible phones. Some of the phones that we saw running the Android 9 Pie early previews including Essential PH-1, Nokia 7 Plus, OnePlus 6, Oppo R15 Pro, Sony Xperia XZ2, Vivo X21 and the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S.
Sadly the number of phones running the Android 9 Pie early preview update were very less and Google is reportedly looking to work on the same. The new report suggests that for the next Android version aka Android Q, Google is working on collaborating with more and more OEMs to have them run Android Q Beta update. This information has been revealed by Android Developer Illiyan Malchev in the Android Developers Backstage podcast.
Commenting on the Android Q software preview for more and more smartphones Illiyan said, “Yeah, in fact, it was fully due to Treble. We had, I believe, eight OEMs including Pixels, so seven OEMs other than Pixel. And I think it was for the first time we had all of these companies line up to do developer previews and betas for Android Pie well ahead of the AOSP publication date. For reference, we tend to release the new version of Android sometime in August. So at Google I/O [2018], when we did the first beta, we had all these companies lined up and that was really that amazing. The number is bigger for the upcoming Android release, which I am very happy about. I cannot share the exact numbers yet. But the trend is positive and strong, and I am very happy about this.”
Illiyan didn’t reveal the exact number of devices that will possibly be a part of the Android Q Beta Program, neither did he identify the phones.
