Google Brings Android Development In-House In Major Shift

Google has reassured developers that Android will remain open source, after it confirmed it will be taking the platform’s development entirely in-house, in a major change to the 16-year-old mobile operating system.

Large parts of Android, including key components such as its kernel and Bluetooth stack, are currently developed in public on the public-facing Android Open Source Project (AOSP) branch, but these will all now be developed instead in Google’s internal branch.

Previously Android development included frequent updates to the AOSP branch, but this will no longer be the case, Google confirmed to specialised blog Android Authority.

Transparency concerns

While anyone can participate in AOSP and use it for their own purposes under an open-source licence, only Google partners such as Samsung and Motorola have access to the internal branch.

Google said the change is intended to streamline development.

Currently, the AOSP and internal branches are currently developed in tandem, so that Google must laboriously merge the branches for each final release, but the change will eliminate this process.

Google said the change could take effect as soon as this week.

In the past, developers have monitored the development of new Android releases via AOSP to get hints on upcoming devices, changes to app support or feature removals.

The change means developers and users won’t be able to find out about upcoming changes as easily, reducing their opportunities to challenge Google.

Google reassured developers that Android will remain open source, saying it plans to continue to update the full code of upcoming releases to AOSP once they are finalised, without specifying update frequency, the China Business News reported.

Technology fragmentation

The shift raised concerns that it could exacerbate technological fragmentation, amidst the development of competing operating systems in China.

Huawei has gained significant smartphone market share with its HarmonyOS platform, whose latest version, HarmonyOS Next, removes Android support.

The company was the third-biggest brand in China’s smartphone market, with 16.7 percent, only 0.1 percent behind Apple, according to Counterpoint, giving it about 6.3 percent of the worldwide smartphone market.

Blocked by sanctions from using US technology, Huawei has moved into developing its own 5G smartphone chips and mobile processors, and is moving into desktops with its own processors and a workstation version of HarmonyOS.