News and Updates about Android

Chinese tipster Digital Chat Station claims Samsung is testing its Privacy Display technology for the Galaxy S27 Pro, according to SamMobile's report on the leak. The feature currently ships exclusively on the Galaxy S26 Ultra. If the Samsung Galaxy S27 Pro privacy screen rumor holds, it would mark the first time the technology has moved beyond a single SKU in Samsung's lineup.

Three Google system components on Samsung Galaxy phones have pending updates that do not appear on the Play Store's "Manage apps & device" screen, the same screen most users check to confirm everything is current. The components are Android System SafetyCore, Android System WebView, and Google Play Services. Both SamMobile and Android Authority confirmed the available updates today. Each one requires a separate manual check to find and install.

Google is testing a Chrome behavior that would send every address-bar query straight into AI Mode, bypassing standard Search entirely. The Google Search AI Mode Chrome test surfaced in the Canary build earlier this month, and while Google moved quickly to call it an accident, its existence lands at an awkward moment: a federal court has spent the last year dismantling the exact kind of default-setting arrangements that would make such a feature legally sensitive.

Global smartwatch shipments fell 2% year over year in Q1 2025, while Samsung's shipments dropped 18%, according to Counterpoint data reported by Android Central. That was not just a bad quarter for wearables. China's smartwatch market grew 37% in the same period, and Huawei and Xiaomi both posted shipment gains.

Samsung appears to have briefly posted a full product page for the unannounced Galaxy A27 5G on its Czech Republic website before pulling it down. The listing, according to Los40, citing SamMobile, makes months of Galaxy A27 5G renders look far less speculative: It points to a cleaner design, a Snapdragon chip, four color options, six OS upgrades and six years of security updates, and one notable durability downgrade.

Google is moving WhatsApp backup controls out of WhatsApp's own menus and into Android's system settings. A Play services update rolling out today, v26.23, will let users manage WhatsApp chat backups in Android settings directly, placing those controls alongside the phone's other backup options rather than buried inside the app, Android Authority reported.

That small green dot in the top-right corner of your Samsung phone is a privacy indicator, not a bug. It means an app is using your camera, microphone, or both. If you also see a faint flicker near the top of the screen during calls, that is usually something else: the proximity sensor.

Google began rolling out Android 17 to supported Pixel devices on June 16, 2026, and the update includes a dedicated gaming interface designed for foldable inner displays. The Android 17 foldable gaming mode is confirmed and built into the OS, but it is not user-accessible yet.

Chrome 150, expected around June 30, removes one of the last internal flags that allowed determined users to keep old Manifest V2 ad blockers alive in Chrome. Chrome 151, expected in July, removes the remaining cleanup code tied to the old extension platform.

A Google employee confirmed this week that the company has been investigating a Google Pixel bootloop issue tied to its March, April, and May 2026 software updates, with devices freezing on the G logo or crashing immediately after PIN entry. The acknowledgement covers the Pixel 6 through Pixel 10 series, and the public issue tracker has accumulated close to 800 entries since March, according to heise. Google says updated guidance is now available.

Waze is starting to show traffic light icons for some drivers, bringing the navigation app closer to Google Maps and Apple Maps on one basic road cue: knowing when a signalized intersection is ahead. The feature is now appearing for more users after months of testing, but it is not showing up for everyone yet, according to 9to5Google.

Gemini for Google Home Update: Faster Responses and Privacy Tradeoffs

Huawei has set a firm date. The company published an official notice today confirming it will raise prices on its "intelligent collaboration products" starting July 1, 2026, citing memory chip shortages, rising component costs, and AI-driven chip demand as pressures it can no longer absorb, according to Huawei Central. That notice covers smartphones, tablets, and other devices across Huawei's lineup, and moves the Huawei price hike July 2026 from executive speculation to a dated, company-issued...

Murena launched /e/OS 4.0 today with the company's most direct attempt yet to address the practical obstacle behind most failed attempts to leave Google: not finding a different phone, but untangling a decade of email, contacts, Drive files, and account relationships from Google's infrastructure. The release lowers that barrier. How much, and for whom, depends on what you need from your phone after the switch.

OnePlus launched the Turbo 6X and Turbo 6X Pro in China this week, and the pricing structure between them is hard to ignore. At the entry tier, the OnePlus Turbo 6X and 6X Pro are separated by just CNY 100, roughly $15, with the Pro adding a larger battery, an AMOLED display, faster charging, and stronger water resistance for that gap, according to TechCabal. Both phones stay under CNY 2,400 ($354) across all configurations, with the base Turbo 6X starting at CNY 1,899 ($280).

Google began notifying users this week that a new setting called Google Search Services History will govern how the company saves and uses the media submitted through Search. The change affects photos taken with Google Lens, recordings from the real-time Search Live tool, voice queries, spoken phrases entered into Translate, and uploaded files and video, The Verge reported Wednesday.

Google is rolling out a Gemini for Home smart display update in Google Home version 4.18, adding visual hourly weather forecasts, natural-language media browsing, and conversational news to Nest Hub displays. The changes are rolling out to Early Access users and may not be available to everyone immediately. Performance improvements — making responses faster — are included in the same release.

A new Samsung Galaxy S27 Pro battery leak suggests the rumored flagship could pack a 5,000mAh cell matching the Galaxy S26 Ultra's capacity in a noticeably smaller body. Tipster kro (@kro_itnyang) shared display and battery details via Digital Trends this week, adding to reports suggesting Samsung may expand its Galaxy S27 lineup from three models to four when it launches in early 2027.