Google is said to be developing a new desktop experience for its Android phones. As per a new report, the latest Android 16 beta update adds a new developer option, dubbed “Enable desktop experience features”, that brings the familiar Android taskbar, the three-button navigation access, and other options when a Pixel running the aforementioned beta is connected to a laptop. The company is speculated to be working on a more desktop-oriented experience for its phones and tablets in a bid to keep up with competitors such as Samsung, which offers DeX — short for “Desktop eXperience”.
Desktop Experience with Android 16
According to an Android Authority report, the new addition was discovered in the developer options of the latest Android 16 Beta 4 update running on the Google Pixel 8 Pro. It is stated to “enable desktop windowing on secondary displays”. Although the functionality isn’t officially available, the publication managed to activate it. Once the Pixel device is connected to an external display such as a laptop, the Android taskbar, status bar, and the three-button navigation menu appears.
Photo Credit: Mishaal Rahman/ Android Authority
The taskbar carries pinned apps, such as Phone, Messages, Camera, Google Chrome, along with the app drawer. When in desktop mode, it can also display recent apps, potentially delivering improved multitasking capabilities.
The new functionality makes it possible to launch several apps in floating windows at once, as per the report. And similar to the Windows experience, users may also be able to move them around, resize them, or align them to the side. Further, it also allows for easy transfer of content using drag and drop.
As per the report, the new desktop experience in Android 16 could be a modified version of the desktop windowing feature which was introduced for the Pixel tablet with the release of Android 15 QPR1 Beta 2 in September last year. While this specific feature only supported built-in displays, Google may have tweaked it to support phones connected to external screens too, the report speculates.
