With Google’s Android platform, what’s old is about to be new again — numerous times over.
Credit: OpenClipart-Vectors/Google/JR Raphael
As we look ahead to a whole new year of green-tinted Googley goodness, I’m feeling both guardedly excited — and curiously like Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day.
Google’s got some pretty weighty pivots in the works for the Android arena right now. It’s mostly good-seeming stuff, on the surface, and cause for cautious optimism. But some of it is also cause for a familiar-feeling sense of déjà vu — a sensation those of us who have watched Google closely for a while now are all too accustomed to experiencing.
Here, specifically, are seven key themes to keep an eye on as we make our way into 2025 and think through what Google might have in store for us in the land of Android — and some important accompanying questions to consider.
Google Android 2025 theme #1: The Android/ChromeOS combo
We’ll start with the biggest and most consequential change to contemplate in the coming months. and that’s the alleged merger of Google’s Android and ChromeOS platforms.
This is absolutely a possibility we’ve heard before — more times that I can even count at this point. But for the first time now, it actually feels like something that could make sense and potentially be a positive for us as users, if Google manages to get it right.
The current rumor suggests Google wants to “unify its operating system efforts” by “fully migrating ChromeOS over to Android” and, in some way, having future Chromebooks ship with Android.
It’s an intriguing notion that could, in theory, bring us the best of both worlds — but you’d better believe there are more questions than answers around this one right now.
For instance:
- When exactly would this happen? The latest rumors describe it as a “multi-year” project, but Google has yet to say a single peep — so we really don’t know if we’ll hear anything official about it in 2025 or not until much later.
- How would current Chromebooks be affected? Some devices out there are already promised ongoing operating system updates through as late as 2034 right now. Would they continue to receive ChromeOS all that time, or would there be some sort of switch over to Android even for existing systems?
- Would Chromebooks even be called Chromebooks if they’re actually running Android?
- How would any sort of switch over to Android affect ChromeOS-specific advantages around security, update frequency, and software consistency?
Clearly, there’s a ton still unknown here, and Google has yet to confirm or deny the possibility in any way. (Believe me, I’ve asked!) But whether anything officially happens in 2025 on this front or not, it’s absolutely gonna be a story and a subject worth watching.
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Google Android 2025 theme #2: The hardware evolution
Google’s self-made hardware focus has long been a roller coaster of uncertainty.
Back in 2019, the company said it was done making tablets and intended to focus entirely on laptop-style devices. Then, three years later, it seemingly cancelled its next Pixelbook laptop and decided to focus entirely on tablets (!) while making the case that they served a completely different purpose than the Chromebooks alongside ’em. And then, earlier this year, it apparently axed its next Pixel Tablet in favor of focusing on — wait for it… — a new Pixel Laptop instead.
It’s enough to make anyone’s head spin. So in 2025, we’ve got tons of pressing questions to chew over:
- After all of that, will we ever see another Pixel Tablet? It’s possible Google’s still developing what would have been the third-generation version for release sometime next year or perhaps the year after.
- Assuming the alleged Pixel Laptop pans out and actually gets released, meanwhile, will that device be a straightforward Android computer, without any hints of ChromeOS?
- And if so, will it be a convertible or detachable device that effectively doubles as a tablet — or will it just be a traditional clamshell-style laptop?
- When will we actually see the thing?
- And will it be a lasting new line for Google or another one-off in the company’s notoriously short-attention-span pattern?
So much to chew over and watch for in this area as well.
Google Android 2025 theme #3: Updates, updates, updates
As part of a plan to get operating system updates out earlier in the year, Google’s shifting its Android release schedule to include a major Android version update in the second quarter and then a smaller Android version update in Q4 — starting in 2025.
This, too, brings a bit of déjà vu. In the platform’s earlier days, updates landed multiple times a year; it was only with 2015’s Android 6 release that Google got onto the annual cadence and laid the groundwork for the pattern we’ve grown accustomed to observing today — with just a single new major Android version coming out toward the end of each year.
The problem with that end-of-year timing is that lots of Android device-makers also like to launch their new flagship phone models around that same time, ahead of the holiday season — and so it becomes a scramble or sometimes even an impossibility for them to ship the latest and greatest Android version out of the box on those shiny new phones.
By pushing out Android 16 in the spring, companies will have much more time to get it onto their new goodies. But we’ve still got plenty of unanswered questions:
- Google describes the Q2 release as being the “major” new Android release of the year, with the Q4 follow-up being “minor” in comparison — with “feature updates, optimizations, and bug fixes.” But Google already increasingly does quarterly feature drops with similar sorts of enhancements alongside the monthly security patches, too. So what exactly will the Q4 Android update include that sets it apart from those other ongoing updates?
- Will the Q4 Android release have a whole new Android version number — like Android 17 — or will it take us back to the days of 0.1-style updates? (Or something else entirely?)
- Most device-makers outside of Google already struggle to keep up with once-a-year Android updates. How will they fare with two rollouts in the equation? Will we see some manufacturers opt to skip over the Q4 release and focus only on the Q2 version? Or will our various high-tech tortoises finally step up to the plate and start exerting some actual effort around this stuff?
And speaking of Android 16…
Google Android 2025 theme #4: Gemini’s mind-numbing march
It’s still too soon to say what, exactly, might end up being the most significant elements in Android 16, but it seems clear that Google’s next-gen Gemini assistant will play a key role in the software — in an extremely déjà-vu-inducing way.
Early reports make it look like Android 16 will allow Gemini to perform specific actions within apps on your behalf and handle all sorts of commands via simple spoken statements.
That, notably, is almost exactly what Google promised us with its “new Google Assistant” back in 2019, around the launch of the Pixel 4 phone, but never quite managed to deliver.
And so far, Gemini isn’t exactly wowing most of us with its skills and capabilities (to, erm, put it mildly).
2025 seems to be a bit of a repeat performance, at least in terms of the promise. Time will tell if this go-round ultimately ends up delivering or if we continue to feel like we’re taking baby steps back toward where we were already.
Google Android 2025 theme #5: Google Now, again
I’ve made no secret of my affection for Google’s smart new Circle to Search system. And I’ve made no qualms about the fact that everything about this system is eerily reminiscent of what we were given back in 2012, when Google launched an excellent but exceptionally short-lived Android feature called Google Now on Tap.
Circle to Search is without a doubt Now on Tap reincarnated. And while the déjà vu element of it is amusing, it’s also nice to have that once-fantastic idea back in the forefront again.
This time — so far, at least — Google seems gung-go about pushing Circle to Search forward and bringing more and more power into its terrain. Already, we’ve seen updates adding in an integrated screenshot option and QR code scanner, and all signs suggest the development will only continue charging forward while Circle to Search itself becomes more broadly available in the months ahead.
Bring it on, I say!
Google Android 2025 theme #6: Do Not Disturb redux
Another apparent priority for Google in 2025 is expanding Android’s Do Not Disturb system in a way that’ll introduce multiple customizable priority “modes” instead of just a single on/off switch.
In terms of pure function, this seems like a smart step forward — though it’s hard not to question if the complexity it introduces will create more confusion than benefit for many Android-owning animals.
And all such worries aside, it’s impossible to see what Google’s got goin’ with this new approach and not think back to the era of Android 5, when Do Not Disturb was similarly transformed into a multipronged “priority mode” system that ended up being a convoluted mess that was soon after abandoned.
With any luck, that’s a lesson Google will remember as it ventures into those waters once more.
Google Android 2025 theme #7: Bubbles floating back to the surface
Back in 2020, Google gave us a wacky-sounding new Android element called Bubbles.
Bubbles, in short, were meant to be a way to keep certain app functions readily available on your screen via a collapsible circle known as — yup — bubbles. You could tap on a bubble to expand it but then keep it out of the way (though still easily accessible) most of the time.
Bubbles ended up being relevant only for a small handful of messaging apps, where it’s generally more annoying than anything. But at the beginning, the system was supposed to have been so much more.
In its original vision for Bubbles, Google presented the system as a “new way for users to multitask and re-engage” with apps. And that was just the start:
Bubbles help users prioritize information and take action deep within another app, while maintaining their current context. They also let users carry an app’s functionality around with them as they move between activities on their device.
Bubbles are great for messaging because they let users keep important conversations within easy reach. They also provide a convenient view over ongoing tasks and updates, like phone calls or arrival times. They can provide quick access to portable UI like notes or translations and can be visual reminders of tasks, too.
So, yeah: Messaging was a small part of the picture, but Bubbles was supposed to be so much more than that. It was meant to represent a new way of getting stuff done on your phone — something that seemed, as I put it at the time, like it could be “a mobile multitasking breakthrough.”
Now, five years later, we may finally see that original vision play out. Under-development code reveals fresh progress on Android’s Bubbles system that’d let you put any app into a bubble and keep it available on demand, exactly as we’d seen teased several years ago. This could open the door to some seriously interesting new ways of multitasking and pulling up elements like notes, emails, documents, and even web pages while viewing something else at the same time — without having to resort to a much more rigid split-screen interface, which isn’t always optimal (especially on a smaller-screened device).
We don’t yet know exactly what form this could take or even if it’ll necessarily show up in Android 16, but seeing it come back to the forefront after all these years is a very welcome surprise and something well worth watching throughout 2025.
Stay tuned
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in analyzing Google all these years, it’s that you never fully know what the company might be thinking — and there’s always room for the element of surprise.
While many of the themes above may indeed be new twists on familiar concepts (as is the comically “new” capability of adding widgets onto your Android tablet’s home screen — hello, 2012!), so much has changed with Android over the past 16 years that certain things will inevitably be different with their implementation now.
And beyond those seven key themes, we’ll almost certainly see other Android-connected advancements and pivots as the year progresses.
As always, our adventure in this arena is only just beginning. And I, for one, can’t wait to experience all the twists and turns with you — every step of the way.
