Google has already reached the second developer preview of Android 15, which seems this close to rolling out the first beta of this latest iteration, Android 15, for its Pixel devices.
As the program of ‘Android 15’ is running in the developer preview stage, somewhere it appears that Google could be making major changes to the status bar icons for Pixel phones and stock Android (AOSP). If the leaks from the developer preview are to be believed, then Google is setting up to revamp these icons for the first time since Android 5.0 Lollipop.
The expectation is that the new design could resemble the status bar icons currently used by Samsung. The reports are saying that a tipster, Mishall Rahman, unveiled the hidden features that change the status bar icons for battery, Wi-Fi, as well as mobile signal. It is expected that the present smooth icons could be replaced with segmented ones using several shades just to represent signal strength.
The new status bar design has separated icons similar to those of Samsung and other brands such as Xiaomi and Honor.
The battery icon probably switches from vertical to horizontal, permitting the charge level to be displayed directly within the icon. Google has been releasing Android 5.0 major updates, but somehow forgot to upgrade the status bar icons and bring Material Design. After Lollipop, Android 10 and then Android 12 brought some minor options to change them.
This time with Android 15, it is expected that Google will probably offer back the power to choose from different status bar icon designs, similar to what was available in Android 10. Apart from this, it is also expected that Google could completely yield the facility for customization and implement a new unified design for all Pixel users.
The tipster further notes that Google is also working on more actual feedback for Android 15. With this update, users will feel a little vibration when they hit or hold a quick settings toggle in the notification shade. Same as with the brightness adjuster, users will also feel haptic feedback while they move the volume slider through touch when it seems to be pressing either volume key on their phone.
However, the Android 15 developer preview is still in the developing stage, so these features probably changed or were even removed entirely before the final release. Google could have them finalized, but the wait is to reveal them in the first public beta. It will be interesting to see whether these new features will arrive with the Android 15 official release or not.
