Well here’s some interesting news. It appears that the next major version of Android, currently dubbed “Android N” may not have an app drawer. Making it feel more like the many smartphones that are sold in China. Most of those do not have app drawers. Including those from ZUK, Meizu, Xiaomi, Huawei and the many others out there. Also, making it feel like the iPhone, with your apps being plastered all over your home screen. It’s something that Android users love – an app drawer, that is – and would be a pretty fundamental shift for Google if this is indeed true.
According to a report out of Android Authority, it appears that current pre-release builds of Android N do not currently have an app drawer. The report is citing two different sources, adding a bit of validity to this report. Now, we are still a few months out from Android N officially being announced at Google I/O in May, so things could change. However, it’s unlikely that it will change that much, with only about two months to go until they unveil Android N in front of thousands of Developers in Mountain View. It’s unclear whether this move is due to user preference or not. Or perhaps its Google looking to adapt for the Asian markets, after all there have been rumors that they are looking to re-enter China after being absent for over 5 years.
The beauty of Android is customization. While axing the app drawer would take out some of that customization, it wouldn’t be completely lost. There will still be third-party launchers in which you can install. Including those of Action Launcher 3, Nova, Apex, and many others. So if this turns out to be true and Google does get rid of the App drawer, you’ll still be able to get it back, although you’ll also lose the convenience of having Google Now on your left screen.
In the meantime, we’ll be taking this with a grain of salt, as this has not been confirmed by Google and likely won’t until the keynote at Google I/O. However, we should be seeing plenty more Android N rumors in the near future.