Android 15 rumours and leaks: Everything we know so far about the major free upgrade coming this year

GOOGLE has given Android fans their first peak of Android 15, the new operating system that will land on phones this year.

Android 15 – or One UI 7 for Samsung owners – will succeed Android 14.

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New features

Little is known about Android 15, so far.

However, the new operating system (OS) has reportedly been codenamed Vanilla Ice Cream for it’s lack of blockbuster features.

Early features appear to be more under-the-hood tweaks, than habit-changing updates.

In a blog post by Google’s Dave Burke writes: “Android 15 continues our work to build a platform that helps improve your productivity while giving you new capabilities to produce superior media experiences, minimise battery impact, maximize smooth app performance, and protect user privacy and security.”

Reports suggests that opening and navigating apps will become faster, and camera features in third-party apps, such as Facebook and WhatsApp, will be improved.

Another small but useful new feature that may appear is the ability to see a battery health percentage – a feature you’ll already find on iPhones.

There’s also rumours that Android 15 will bring back support of lock screen widgets.

Android hasn’t natively supported lock screen widgets, which was lost to Android 5.

Release date

The first developer preview of Android 15 has only just arrived, so an official launch is still a long way off.

The preview is available to download, but unless you’re an actual software or app developer, we wouldn’t advise it.

A public beta will arrive sometime in April, according to Burke’s blog post, with a full release later in the year.

Google is aiming for the OS to be fully stable from June onwards, allowing the tech giant to make any finishing touches before its release.

The finished version of Android 15 will likely land sometime between August and October, based on past releases.

Last year, Android 14 launched properly on October 4, having first revealed details about it in February 2023.

While Android 13 landed on August 15 of 2022 – so stay tuned.

Eligible phones

When Android 15 eventually launches, the OS update will roll out to Google Pixel owners first, before trickling out to Samsung owners.

So far, Google has made the Android 15 developer preview available for newer Pixel devices, including the Pixel 6, the Pixel 7, and the Pixel 8.

It’s understood that the same handsets will be eligible to download Android 15 when it’s ready, plus all their sister models, including: the Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 6a, Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel 7a, Pixel Fold, Pixel 8, and Pixel 8 Pro.

There is also a chance that the Pixel 5a 5G will also get Android 15, according to TechRadar, as this model is guaranteed updates until August of this year.

Samsung has also published a list of phones that will be able to download Android 15 (or One UI 7) here.

Other phone brands that should also receive Android 15, include the OnePlus 12, OnePlus 11, OnePlus Open, Sony Xperia 1 V, Sony Xperia 5 V, Xiaomi 13, and Motorola Razr Plus 2023.

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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk