With the Android Pie update, Google aims to bump up the experience for eligible users worldwide. The update to Android 9 Pie has been just a month but it seems that the time has come when we start talking about the next version of Android.
A recently updated Google document suggests that Android Q will be the next major Android version, not Android 9.1 Pie. According to a report, the next major version of Android will directly be next year’s Android Q, rather than a ‘maintenance release’ in the form of Android 9.1.
Google document has confirmed twice that Android Q will be API Level 29. To explain API; it basically identifies the version of the Android Framework like; Android 8.0 Oreo is API Level 26, Android 8.1 Oreo is API Level 27, and Android 9 Pie is API Level 28. This doesn’t mean that there won’t be any updates between now and Android Q, rather Android 9.0 will only see minor changes instead of the larger maintenance release.
It’s very early to talk of Android Q, as the latest Android version released last month, Android 9 Pie, is still a while away on most devices. Android 9 Pie is currently running on a total of less than 0.01 percent of smartphones across the globe. Only the Google Pixel series and Essential’s PH-1 are running on Pie, whereas billions of other Android devices are still running on older versions of Android.
The next Android Q version will likely be available as a developer preview version sometime in early 2019. Until then let’s make use of the latest released Android 9 Pie.