More phones to join the Android Q beta league this year

Previous year Android 9 Pie was launched in beta form on handsets from Essential, Nokia, OnePlus, Oppo, Sony, Vivo and Xiaomi as well as the Google Pixels, and this year it looks like even more manufacturers will join the league of Android beta.

As per reports, Iliyan Malchev from Google's Project Treble team disclosed the move in a discussion on the Android Developers Backstage podcast.

Project Treble is Google's move to make simpler for phone makers to update Android on their devices, separating the actual Android code from the layers that these other companies add on top – which should mean updates get pushed out faster.

Malchev didn't mention exactly who else is going to be included in the beta program for Android Q, but as well as the companies we've already listed, it looks like Samsung, HTC, LG and Huawei could be among those who are included this time around.

Dealing with fragmentation

Still, Android 6.x Marshmallow is the most common Android version, which was launched in 2015, and worldwide it is still running on more than 1 in 5 devices. That tells you the problems with fragmentation that Android still has got.

The ongoing efforts with Project Treble as well as adding more phones to the Android Q beta should help to turn around those figures.

As of now, we don't know much about what Android Q is going to bring along with it – Face ID-style logins have been mooted, letting you log into your phone and make purchases using your face, and system-wide dark mode has also been in to talk.

At the Google IO developers conference 2019, we may hear much more which gets underway, on May 7. It's the event where Google usually teases new features for the next version of Android and offers details of what the beta will involve.