If you didn’t know, Google has been naming its Android versions in alphabetical order after desserts — it all began with Android 1.5 Cupcake, and the most recent flavor was Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Android 7.0, which Google confirmed in a video, has long-been teased to be Android Nutella, seeing as it was a popular choice.
Nougat is a candied bar made from sugar or honey; nuts, like almonds; and egg white. Google unveiled the name of Android’s new version as it usually does — by removing the drapes over the new statue at its headquarters. Littered across Google’s Mountain View space are “Bugdroids,” the unofficial name of the green Android robot. These statues are designed after each of the major operating system updates.
Android Nougat’s statue features Bugdroid standing over nougat bars.
Introducing #AndroidNougat. Thank you, world, for all your sweet name ideas! #AndroidNReveal pic.twitter.com/7lIfDBwyBE
— Android (@Android) June 30, 2016
Senior Vice President of Android and Chrome OS Hiroshi Lockheimer has constantly teased the name Nutella, but the reveal seemed a little too blatant to be true. Google even changed the naming process this year, allowing people to add their choice for N’s name via a site. Of course, Google had the final say, so it’s unclear whether nougat really was the popular choice. It’d be interesting to see that data, though.
It wouldn’t have been the first time Google went for a name-brand if it chose Nutella — Android 4.4 KitKat is evidence of that. Either way, nougat has the honor of now being tied to the largest mobile operating system in the world. Baker’s will also now get confused when they start searching for nougat recipes.
Android Nougat is expected to drop some time this summer. The beta program is currently on Developer Preview 4, which means we have one more to go before the final release. You can view Google’s unveiling of the Android statue by adding the search giant on Snapchat, and you can read all about the latest features in Android Nougat, such as split-screen mode and notification bundling, here.
Updated on 06-30-2016 by Julian Chokkattu: Updated to reflect that Android Nougat is indeed Android 7.0.
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