Google appears to be planning a bunch of updates for Android TV over the next year, including new Assistant features, a major hardware release, and support for its upcoming game streaming service, Stadia.
According to XDA Developers, which saw a slide presented by Google at a recent conference, Google has already planned out the key upgrades for Android TV over the next two years. This year, it’s planning to begin allowing device makers to add custom phrases to the Assistant, test in-menu ads, and launch a Play Store redesign that was previewed back in May. These features would be part of an update to Android 10.
Next year’s plans are a lot bigger. The most immediately interesting news is support for Stadia, which currently requires a Chromecast Ultra to be used on a TV. XDA Developers also reports that Google listed a “hero device” launch, which will include “next-gen” smart home features, which seem to involve Google Lens and Android 10’s Live Captions feature. Google is also hoping to hit 8,000 Android TV apps by the end of 2020. All of this would be part of an update to Android 11.
As for Android 11 features in 2021, details are a little more vague. The report says Google is hoping to hit as high as 10,000 apps, reduce hardware fragmentation (seemingly through reference hardware that other companies can build on top of), and offer improved and internationally available Assistant integrations.
Android TV has been around for five years now, and it’s yet to have much of an impact. Devices haven’t been particularly exciting, and they’ve been up against stiff and affordable competition from Apple, Roku, Amazon, and even super-simple options like the Chromecast from Google itself. It’s not clear that anything on this road map will necessarily make Android TV a top competitor, but Stadia integration, at the very least, would offer one good reason to pick an Android streaming box over something else.
