Android 12 beta program goes on: next release expected this December
Android 12 Snow Cone, the latest release of Google's popular operating system, was officially rolled out to eligible Pixel devices a couple of days ago, but Android 12 was officially released to the AOSP branch earlier in October.
Up until this point, Android 12 was available as a beta on a slew of Pixel and non-Pixel Android devices, and it would have been perceived normal for Google to end the beta program now that Android 12 is live. However, that doesn't seem to be the case - Google is actually continuing the Android 12 beta program.
If you have been enrolled in the latest Android 12 beta, then you'd automatically receive another beta build this December, Google says. However, Google being Google, no details are given as to what the next Android 12 Snow Cone beta would feature. Are we possibly gearing for an Android 12.x release, likely Android 12.1, early next year?
Provided that we are, this beta could prove to be an excellent playground for any new features Google might want to add to Android, as user feedback is precious for fixing bugs and polishing features. Indeed, Google acknowledges the fact that more than 50,000 Android 12 issues have been solved thanks to the Android 12 beta community.
That mysterious Android 12.x release is rumored to be focused on perfecting the latest Android release for foldable devices. Google has been widely expected to tease its own foldable Pixel alongside the official announcement of the Pixel 6-series a couple of days ago, but no such device was revealed. If real, the so-called Pixel Fold is much likely to become reality sometime in 2022.
If you wish to leave the beta program, you can unenroll by following this link. However, Google says there are some specifics to the process this time around: "If you prefer to leave the beta program for Pixel and return to the public stable track of Android 12, you have a window of opportunity to unenroll without wiping your device. Please update and install today’s official release and then unenroll by December 1st before the next beta update releases. This will ensure your device will not get wiped during opt-out."
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