Five months after Google began its rollout of Android 6.0 Marshmallow, the company unexpectedly released its first developer preview of the next major version of the OS a few weeks ago. It's currently known only as the Android 'N' release - but Samsung has apparently now revealed its version number.
Release notes for Samsung's MultiWindow SDK 1.3.1 state that "this version has been released with Android N(7.0) compatibility", which seems to confirm that the N release will eventually become more widely known as Android 7.0.
However, there's still no indication of which sweet, tasty treat the new version will be named after. Android N is referred to internally as 'New York Cheesecake', but the pre-release nickname for each new Android version always differs from the name that is chosen for its eventual launch.
It may not come as a great surprise to everyone that Android N will be version 7.0, although it's worth noting that Google's versioning hasn't been entirely inconsistent in the past. For example, Android 4.1 to 4.3 shared the Jelly Bean moniker, but while the fairly substantial 4.4 update got a new name - KitKat - its version number only went up incrementally, rather than starting with a fresh integer.
Here's the list of major Android releases over the years:
- 1.0 | Alpha
- 1.1 | Beta
- 1.5 | Cupcake
- 1.6 | Donut
- 2.0 - 2.1 | Eclair
- 2.2 - 2.2.3 | Froyo
- 2.3 - 2.3.7 | Gingerbread
- 3.0 - 3.2.6 | Honeycomb
- 4.0 - 4.0.4 | Ice Cream Sandwich
- 4.1 - 4.3.1 | Jelly Bean
- 4.4 - 4.4.4 | KitKat
- 5.0 - 5.1.1 | Lollipop
- 6.0 - 6.0.1 | Marshmallow
- 7.0 | 'N'
Google hasn't yet announced when Android N / 7.0 will be officially released, but there's a good chance we'll find out at the company's I/O developer conference next month.
Source: Samsung Developers via SamMobile
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