Android One dead? That is a question I asked before the end of 2015.
Saying Android One is dead may be an overstatement at the moment but I don’t think we are left with much to work with in light of recent developments.
Following its announcement of the latest Android 7.0, Nougat, Google also quietly rolled out a redesigned Android.com. The new Android site features a few alignments like the introduction of an apps section that lists several popular apps which upon being clicked on redirects to their respective Play Store pages.
Here is where it gets interesting. In between the redesign and a little housekeeping, Android One devices are nowhere to be seen on the landing page. They don’t appear on the ‘phones’ page either.
This shouldn’t mean much since Android One devices have never been a big highlight but it could signal interesting developments.
The last time we heard about Android One was back in February when the General Mobile 5 Plus became the first Android One device to be announced in the new year.
Google introduced Android One 2 years ago with the intention of providing low-cost hardware with first-rate access to Google’s latest Android software. While the intentions are good and for a moment we were convinced that finally the low segment of the market would henceforth be guaranteed timely updates without having to spend money on new devices, there has been more silence. The programme appears to have hit some iceberg and it is that uncertainty that brings to fore more question marks when the devices are omitted from the foremost Android listing.
Or maybe we are making a mountain out of a molehill. Time will tell.
