By now, a lot of major Android smartphone manufacturers have been able to bring Android 6.0 (also known as Android M or Marshmallow) to their latest flagship phones, such as LG, Samsung, HTC, Motorola, but not Sony as yet.  Especially in the light of Mobile World Congress, companies are introducing their newest flagship phones for 2016, which have Marshmallow right out of the box.  But what about Android N?  That is, the latest version of Android after that?  This is what is known about Android N with its release date and news.

Like last year's Android M, Android N will more than likely be announced at Google I/O, the company's big developer conference that will be opening on May 18, 2016, according to Pocket Lint.  This will be just a glimpse of Android N before it is set to arrive in the fall, on Google's newest devices.  Tradition holds that Google's newest will get it first before it slowly pours out onto all other Android devices, even the newer ones, probably not appearing on most until early 2017. 

Lately, Android versions have been increasing to a full decimal point, as Android L (also known as Lollipop) was released as version 5.0 one year before Marshmallow, version 6.0.  It is not known what the number of this version of Android will be, but if this pattern is followed, then it will be 7.0.  It is also not known what sweet treat it will be named after (perhaps Nougat). 

So what changes will be made to Android N?  Part of it could be some design changes to the System Settings menu, according to Ubergizmo.  The divider between the menu items are less obvious to give a more seamless  and cohesive look, for a start.  There is an image of those System Settings shown above, and the ones on the center and right are the Android N, which has more information about each subject.  Honestly, I see similar things on my Android M phone, the HTC One M9, and this was before the upgrade.  What you are seeing here could just be some new form related to the carrier, perhaps.

There are also rumors circulating that the app drawer will not be on Android N, but Google has quickly disavowed that rumored video.  This ditching of the app drawer has been rumored to happen on Android for a long time now, so perhaps this is true, to some degree. 

It also looks like the Notification Panel could be getting some kind of update as there will be more space for greater amounts of information, with more color.

So that is only a few updates so far, which might not be worthy of upgrading to 7.0, but rather a 6 point something, at least at this present time.  Definitely look for more info about Android N at and after Google I/O.