Google finally shuts up speculation and rumors after the tech giant announced that its upcoming operating system will be called Android Marshmallow.
Following its practice of sequentially naming its Android operating systems alphabetically and picking names from famous sweet confections, it is expected that the successor to Lollipop will be Marshmallow. Although in the past there are rumors suggesting that the update will be named Meringue and Macadamia Nut Cookie.
The announcement was made via Google's Android Developers Blog and reads, "Whether you like them straight out of the bag, roasted to a golden brown exterior with a molten center, or in fluff form, who doesn't like marshmallows? We definitely like them."
According to The Washington Post, the announcement of Android Marshmallow was accompanied with the unveiling of its official statue on the lawn of Google's headquarters located in Mountain View, California. The statue features the ubiquitous green Google Android mascot which now holds a piece of white marshmallow.
Google announced the successor to Android Lollipop in June during its annual developer's conference. The then unnamed operating system was released to developers as Android M.
Android Marshmallow will feature a major update on its flagship digital assistant dubbed Google Now. The new feature will be called Now On Tap and allow users to access Google Now by simple holding their phone's Home Button, the same was Apple users access Siri on their iOS devices.
Despite offering major performance and security updates, the Android Lollipop operating system is only installed in only about 18 percent of all Android devices in circulation. Majority of Android devices still ran on older operating systems like KitKat and Jellybean. This trend is often called fragmentation and many analysts pointed the slow update roll out from smartphone manufacturers to be the cause of it.
Android Marshmallow is expected to be rolled out before the end of 2015.