The year 2022 has begun and there is no question that there will be a lot of Google news again. Including not only a number of settings but also some new products. Google normally keeps the development of new products under lock and key and only announces them shortly before they appear. But of course, there are the well-known product cycles or some products that have already been announced, which we would like to summarize in this article: This will come in 2022.
We have already shown you the products that are very likely to be discontinued in 2022 and today we are looking at the other side of the coin: We will show you which products can be expected in 2022. For long-time Google observers, there will be no surprise, because of course only what is already known or can be deduced from the known product cycles can be reported here.
Android 12L
In a few weeks, Google should be releasing the final version of Android 12L, which was surprisingly announced at the end of 2021 and is intended mainly for tablets, foldable and Chromebooks. It is an intermediate version after Android 12, but also an offshoot that will presumably also appear in the coming years. If you believe the schedule, the final version can be expected in early March.
However, the operating system is aimed at devices that are not yet on the market. So it remains to be seen how things will go with the rollout. Pixel smartphones are compatible and the installation is not advised against, but neither is it recommended.
Android 13
As soon as Android 12L has cleared the beta channel, Android 13 can continue. The new operating system was leaked a few days ago and a lot of information about the upcoming smartphone platform has already become known. It is still far too early to speculate on a timetable, but experience teaches us that the final version of Android 13 can be expected in autumn 2022.
As usual, Android 13 will be offered for all Pixel smartphones that are still supported at the time of the rollout and should go through a long beta program again. Information on this can be expected with the first Developer Preview, which we have again on the plan this year for mid to late February.
Wear OS 3
Strictly speaking, Wear OS 3 has already been released and has even been on the market for a few months with the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4. But this is only an extension of the close partnership between Google and Samsung because the final release of Wear OS 3 and the first smartwatches with the new operating system are not expected until spring 2022. All about the developer conference Google I / O, which will probably take place again digitally.
Wear OS 3 will try to restart the smartwatch market, which not only consists of the operating system, which has finally been developed with a little more emphasis but also of the Google Smartwatch Pixel Watch.
Fuchsia?
No annual forecast without fuchsia. This has been true since 2017 and I want to continue the tradition despite all the disappointments of recent years. This year we can at least count on the fact that Fuchsia has already been rolled out on the Nest Hub Smart Displays and that it should come to the Nest Hub Max Smart Displays very soon. Strictly speaking, fuchsia, like Wear OS 3, is already on the market. Nevertheless, there was never a real starting shot with a detailed introduction.
I don’t even lean out of the window anymore and just say that you will almost certainly read a lot about fuchsia here in the blog in 2022 as well. We’ll just have to wait and see if the headline “Fuchsia is here” will be there.
Pixel Watch
2022 it will finally come true! There is little doubt that Google will finally launch the Pixel Watch this year. The rumors about the smartwatch are very extensive, the device has already appeared in the sources of some Google apps and of course, it would perfectly support the start of Wear OS 3 (see above). Of course, the smartwatch can still be canceled, as in previous years, but that would be very unlikely at this internally mature stage.
The smartwatch will of course rely on Wear OS 3, have a round display, focus on the Google Assistant and perhaps build the bridge between Wear OS and Fitbit that has been expected for two years. We can be curious.
Pixel 6a
Google is now bringing a budget smartphone onto the market every year, which is planned for spring and will be launched as a significantly cheaper offshoot of the fall flagship of the previous year. While there is no information about the Pixel 6a yet, there is little doubt that it will actually hit the market. It would be the successor to the Pixel 5a, which unfortunately is only available in the US and Japan.
Pixel 7
Would anyone doubt that a Pixel 7 will hit the market this fall? Certainly not and so it can already be said in the first days of January that there will be a Pixel 7 smartphone in October 2022. Thanks to the Pixel 6, the bar is set very high and one can only hope that the engineers will eliminate the worst mistakes earlier this year and still have enough time for innovations to stand out from the predecessor. Due to the set Tensor SoC and its very long lead time, it is to be expected that there will be information and leaks about smartphones very early this year as well.
Pixel Fold
The Pixel Fold was actually on the plan for the end of 2021 and many leakers swore that it would be on the market by Christmas. But then the product was stopped or postponed very abruptly and possibly moved to spring 2022. The reasons can only be speculated, but I assume that it would not have been wise to bring the foldable smartphone onto the market before the first release of the operating system optimized for foldable smartphones (see Android 12L).
But postponed is not canceled and so I continue to assume that we will see the Pixel Fold this year. And with it may be Google’s slightly different idea of a foldable smartphone. Even if a pixel doesn’t sell that well, it can trigger certain trends and provide directions – especially thanks to Google’s Android power.
Google Nest Mini 2 & much more
The Google Nest Mini is entering its third year and has just “lost” its predecessor when the Google Home Mini was discontinued. I just want to mention the small smart speaker here as a representative of many smart home products that could use a freshening up in 2022: Nest Audio, Nest Mini, Nest Hub, or the Chromecast of the new or old generation. The Stadia controller would also be an issue. So did Nest Wifi, restarting the Nest security system, and a few other products.