Google Android 2026 theme #6: AI, AI, everywhere
Yup — again: For better or at times for worse, the generative AI craze isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
And here in the Android arena, that means Gemini is almost certainly gonna be crammed into our craniums at every possible opportunity even further — and even more than we’ve seen so far.
With any luck, some of that will actually result in stuff that’s practical and reliable enough to be useful and not just somewhere between “silly parlor trick” and “it would be helpful if it didn’t confidently serve up inaccurate info 10% of the time” — as has been the case with the vast majority of AI features so far.
But, we shall see. And one way or another, it’s certainly coming. Again.
Google Android 2026 theme #7: Google Now, again (again)
Last but not least, for one final déjà-vu-inducing moment: With all of the incoming AI fiddle-faddle, it seems increasingly clear that Google’s trying to get back to the level of predictive intelligence we veteran Android-adoring animals remember from well over a decade ago.
I’m talkin’ about the Google Now system that generated more than its share of oohs and ahhs when it launched back in 2012, only to be abandoned for no apparent reason a short while later. I’ve noted before how the more current Android Circle to Search setup is more than a little reminiscent of Google Now and its companion Now on Tap sibling. Those similarities have only continued to crop up in the time since — and now, Google is also testing a taste of that same proactive intelligence in the inbox with its experimental Google CC agent.
If Circle to Search is Now on Tap reincarnated, Google CC is very much Google Now itself in a newer form. The big question is if either system can reach the level of reliable helpfulness their prehistoric predecessors already enjoyed prior to their untimely demises. And that, I’m afraid, is something we’ll have to wait to find out.
Stay tuned
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: If there’s one thing I’ve learned in analyzing Google all these years, it’s that you never fully know what the company might be thinking — and there’s always room for the element of surprise.
We can rely on roadmaps, remarks, and the perspective of time to get a pretty good idea of where Google’s going, at least in broad strokes. But at the end of day, Google’s gonna Google — and no one can possibly predict what pivots, flip-flops, or random new ideas might come into the mix unexpectedly and shake up everything we think we understand.
One thing’s for sure: From positive to ponderous and exciting to exhausting, it’s gonna be a wild 12 months ahead. And, I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see how it all shakes out.
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