Android N release date, features rumors: Next Android is version 7.0?

Android Developers blog

While Google has already released a developer preview of the upcoming Android N platform, the tech giant has yet to confirm if the new environment is a more advanced version or if it will just continue as Android 6.1. Samsung may have inadvertently confirmed that, indeed, Android N will be version 7.0.

According to SamMobile, Samsung has released the changelog for the MultiWindow developer kit. The notes read, "This version has been released with Android N(7.0) compatibility." This means that the next Android N platform will be the seventh version of the Google mobile OS and not just a new iteration of the Android 6.0 platform.

Checking if a new Android platform is a new version entirely is already one of the things that observers note with upcoming firmware updates. During the development of Android's fourth installment, Google named version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. However, the succeeding 4.X updates did not retain the name ICS; instead, Google chose to name them Jellybean and Kitkat.

Google only jumped into the fifth version with the introduction of Android Lollipop.

Meanwhile, as for Android N, the release of its full version is inching closer. Although Google has yet to confirm if the full version will make it to next month's Google I/O Conference, fans expect that a working version will roll out soon. The expectations are not unfounded since Google has already released a new version of the Android N Developer Preview version. The second version is already out and builds on the original, introducing new features for the upcoming platform like the new Vulkan 3D rendering API, launcher shortcuts, and support for Unicode 9 emojis. The new version also addresses a number of bugs and issues found in the first developer preview version.