What you need to know
- The Android Developer Preview website was the subject of much curiosity earlier today.
- The page made several references to Android 11, fueling rumors of an impending Developer Preview for the next version of Android.
- The page was quickly taken down, though, with all mentions of Android 11 expunged.
Is a new Android Developer Preview afoot? Google's website dedicated to Android previews certainly seemed to suggest so earlier today, with the folks at Android Police catching several references to the Android 10 successor on the page.
Of course, since the company hasn't made any official announcements on this issue yet, the change was almost certainly a mistake on someone's part, and Google has now taken down the Android Developer Preview page in its entirety. Going to the link now redirects you to the developer page for Android 10.
But, of course, being the good journalists our friends at Android Police are, they have receipts:
It's unclear if a new Developer Preview is actually coming soon or if this was all just a big mistake. Last year, the first Developer Preview for Android 10 dropped in early March. So, it's possible the folks at Google are merely setting things up for an eventual release next month. While the page was up, all the links for new features still referred to Android 10, for example.
On the other hand, Google may be moving its schedule up a bit this year and planning to release the Developer Preview for Android 11 a month earlier than before. It's hard to tell at this point, and of course, Google's likely not going to clarify the confusion until it feels good and ready.
For now, we'll just have to make do with the few references we have to the new features coming to Android in the next few months. These include APIs for foldables (as expected), Vulkan extensions, and of course, more privacy features. Let's hope we find out more sooner rather than later.
5 features we want to see in Android 11
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