Android 12 has arrived with a big aesthetic change under its arm. The Google team has taken several steps further than the “ Material Design ” released by Android Lollipop seven years earlier, and oddly enough, it has evolved so much that there is hardly any trace of the original. But this change won’t do much good it will hardly be relevant in the market if it does not reach a sufficient number of cellphones. And it won’t.
The new cosmetic (and functional) changes Android 12 brings with it will conflict with the fact that Google’s operating system is distributed in a very improvable way that brings a few features to almost everyone, but many to very few. . And if to that we add that manufacturers often opt for their own layers of customization, all this “revolution” introduced by Google will soon pass through the water.
Android 12’s design will collide with the distribution
Android originally had the, probably deserved, reputation of being an unsightly operating system compared to its more direct competition
But over time, the operating system adopted a more connected, nicer design which, however, was damaged by the same layers that, in most cases, cover the system itself. Now the system done with ‘Material You’ color patterns based on our desktop image and brings them to the whole phone (all of our phones) to unify the style. A style that suits us.
Google is taking advantage of these new themes generated from the desktop image to change more things. A new design is introduced for the system widgets, the shape of the icons is changed, aspects such as the button bar or quick settings are redefined, and new fonts are even proposed to adapt to each new pattern generated. And if we want, we can create our own custom template. Google wants our phone to stand out from the rest, and it will do so with just a few phones. Very little.
It is said that it will only succeed with a few as Google continues to drag the same problem almost from its origins, that of ecosystem fragmentation. Because those at Mountain View are making many of their technical and security improvements to other versions of the operating system through Google Play services, the design and aesthetic section does not lag in this way. This section is exclusive to each version of Android, and there are very few phones updated each year.
It will take a long time for the Android market to deliver a decent distribution share for Android 12, we checked ad nauseam with previous versions. So all this design will be lost like tears in the rain and will reach, if it happens, even more users when Android 13 is already on the streets. Or while Android 14 is just around the corner, it always has been and it doesn’t appear to be an issue that will be fixed anytime soon.
All the bestsellers wear a cape
We also say you will achieve this with just a few because even users who get Android 12 will have little chance to enjoy the system graphics. Google Pixel users will, and they will also have exclusive features like automatic caption transcription, Motorola users will, Nokia users will, and very few others will. Because user layers exist, they are very diverse and constitute the vast majority of the market.
The vast majority of Android manufacturers hide the system behind their own design, and in the end, Android 12 will be lost.
Take a look at which manufacturers have the most sales each quarter to find us 100% presence of personalization layers. Samsung leads with One UI, Xiaomi pursues it with MIUI, followed by OPPO with ColorOS and Vivo with FunTouch and OriginOS. And the ones that don’t appear in the photo are a lot more, they are OnePlus with OxygenOS, Realme with RealmeUI, ASUS with ZenUI (unless you go for stock Android) and even Huawei with EMUI, although you probably never will. use Android 12 and go solo with HarmonyOS.
In the end, Android 12 has arrived for the graphical aspect of the operating system to take a giant leap that very few people will be able to enjoy, either because your phone is not updated to Android 12, or because ‘he ends up being buried after the personalization. of the brand. A brand personalization that will change, as it changes with each new release, but that will continue without letting us see what’s under the hood. Phones that show what Android really looks like are few, very few. It’s a shame because Android 12 is a before and after in Android design, and that won’t change a thing.