That visual overhaul we’ve been waiting for finally shows up in this week’s Android news

Material Design took Android from its #holoyolo phase into a modern, sophisticated era of thoughtfully executed UI — but that was back in the Android Lollipop days. In the years that followed, Android 12’s Material You gave us some fun new shapes and dynamic theming, but Google’s getting ready to release its fourth OS version since then. It’s clearly time for a change, and Google seems to know this, considering its fresh new design was just shown off.

In addition to Google’s “Expressive” new UI, the week in mobile saw Samsung finally roll out One UI 7 to all of its flagships, just as leaks gave us some early looks at One UI 8. Meanwhile, Gemini seems ever-so-close to hitting an important new surface, and Google let us know that we won’t have to wait until I/O to see all the new Android goodies. But if you missed any of the biggest Android headlines in the last seven days, don’t worry — we’ll get you caught up below.

The visual overhaul we’ve been waiting for finally appears

We saw the first signs of a new, “Expressive” version of Material You just over two weeks ago — but this week, we got to see it in action. From the looks of things, Google’s version of Android 16 for Pixels will take a few design cues from Apple’s iOS and Samsung’s One UI — particularly the gaussian blur effect — but it won’t be a full departure from Material You.

The Quick Settings panel, lock screen, app drawer, and recent apps menu all have a frosted glass look, but there’s a lot more to the redesign than blurred backgrounds. In fact, animations appear to be a big part of the makeover, as Mishaal Rahman was able to activate the new UI and show off some of the bouncy transition effects in a report for Android Authority.

One UI 7 is finally, actually, here…

To say One UI 7 has had a rocky rollout would be an understatement — but at least Samsung’s coming through in the clutch. After sharing a release schedule that had most of its high-end devices waiting until May to receive the Android 15-based update, Samsung managed to start the rollout for all eligible flagships and foldables by the end of April.

The update was made available in reverse chronological order, with the S24 series getting it first. But it started hitting the Galaxy S21 series and the Z Flip/Fold 3 in Korea on Tuesday, which were the final eligible flagships. By Friday, the update had reached 2021 flagships in the US, effectively marking the end of the rollout for high-end phones. Next up? Tablets and midrange phones dating back to 2022.

…just in time for One UI 8 to take the stage

With One UI 7 finally under control, it appears Samsung has shifted its focus to the Android 16-based One UI 8. This week, we learned the new version could bring a Google Gemini-inspired feature to Samsung Internet that lets you summarize videos with AI — and this might just be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to new Galaxy AI functionality.

Elsewhere, we saw a cover screen upgrade for the Galaxy Z Flip series that makes Live Notifications such as media controls and Now Briefs fit more seamlessly on the outer display. But the change people are likely to be most excited about is a set of smooth animations for opening and closing apps.

There’s no need to wait for I/O this year if you’re an Android fan

Google I/O kicks off on May 20th this year, and that’s when we were expecting to hear all the latest news about Android 16 and beyond. But Google threw a wrench in those plans — this year, the company is hosting a special I/O edition of its vlog, The Android Show, where it will give us a look at what’s new in Android a full week early on May 13th. That’s a week from this Tuesday, so it might be a good idea to go ahead and mark your calendar now.

Gemini is almost ready for your smartwatch

Google has already announced that Gemini will replace Google Assistant on most surfaces by the end of this year, but it didn’t reveal exactly when. For Wear OS smartwatches, at least, the transition appears to be imminent. The latest update to the Google Assistant app for smartwatches changes the app’s name to simply “Digital assistant” in your watch’s Settings, and it’s already showing the Gemini logo in some places. Gemini itself hasn’t gone live yet, but with I/O just around the corner, we wouldn’t be surprised if the switch happened within weeks.