The Play Store has seen quite the redesign of late, with a whole new look and feel taking place back in October. However that has not been the extent to the updates or new features that are rolling out to the Play Store. In fact, only a few days ago the latest reports came through detailing that the Play Store now seems to have begun accepting promo codes as a method of payment. Following which, the latest feature bound for the Play Store is now coming to light.
To be more accurate, it seems the new feature is more a feature destined for Google Search than the Play Store, however, it is a directly relevant to the Play Store. The sum of the new feature is that some users are now seeing the ability to install apps from the Play Store in Google Search and without having to be redirected to the Play Store first. At present, there is no Google confirmation on the feature, the rolling out or otherwise and as such, the only way to know if the feature is live for you, is to test it.
To do this, simply search for any app through the Google App. The searched for app will appear as the top listing and from here, either one of two options will occur. If you click on the ‘get app’ link and you are redirected to the Play Store, then the update is not available on your device yet. If however, a small install pop up window appears (as it does when you are normally install an app from the Play Store) and offers the option to accept the permissions needed to install, then you have the feature working on your device. That seems to be the crux of it. While it is not confirmed for everyone yet, those who are seeing the new feature do seem to be growing in numbers. Not to mention, it is being suggested that this might only be working through the Google App and not through the Chrome browser on your phone. Which does further highlight that this is still likely to only be in a testing phase at the moment.