Android’s splashy new paint job received’t yank Gen Z from iPhones

Android’s new design language appears to be like extraordinarily… Gen Z.

That a lot is apparent from the idea pictures within the leaked weblog put up that surfaced right now (revealed by Google, because it tends to do). Whereas the theme is customizable, Google highlighted pink, purple, and coral all through the interface. It’s a decidedly youthful, bubblier, and extra enjoyable design that screams “take a look at all this recent paint!” and fewer “select from one in every of these six standard shades of blue.” Google’s weblog additionally confirms the push towards youth enchantment. Tremendous; freshening up the interface each infrequently is an efficient and mandatory pursuit. Apart from the inherent cringe issue when a bunch of designers tries to quantify youth enchantment in bar graphs labeled “Coolness attributes,” I can’t shake the sensation that none of this issues a lot towards Android’s greatest hurdle in addressing the youthful demographic: the iPhone.

Android is the most well-liked cell working system on this planet. However right here within the US, Apple owns a solid majority of all telephones bought. The numbers skew much more closely towards iOS once you take a look at youthful demographics. A 2025 survey from investment bank Piper Sandler experiences that 88 % of youngsters polled personal an iPhone. A 2023 article in The Wall Street Journal discovered that youngsters who dared to convey an Android telephone to highschool confronted teasing for utilizing what’s seen as a telephone for outdated individuals. Google, it appears, want to do one thing about that.

The screenshots from the weblog put up, which had been saved by 9to5Google, give us a peek at what Google’s try to enchantment to the youth appears to be like like. It builds on Materials You, the interface that Google launched with Android 12, with a concentrate on customizability. It added the power to vary the system-wide coloration palette based mostly in your wallpaper, a function that Apple kind of copied in iOS 18 with an choice to tint homescreen icons. Materials Three pushes even additional, mixing in daring fonts, greater icons, and vibrant colours.

The leaked weblog put up calls Materials Three its “most-researched replace to Google’s design system, ever.” Google’s leaked put up says it performed 46 research testing its new designs, with over 18,000 individuals. “Whereas there was a web optimistic indication throughout all age teams, youthful research individuals had essentially the most enthusiastic choice for M3 Expressive, and in addition ranking the designs as excessive in Visible Enchantment and Intention to Use,” the put up claimed.

It’s not all concerning the youth. It additionally says, “…with Expressive variations, we’re seeing a removing of age results in fixation occasions, serving to 45+ 12 months outdated customers carry out on par with their youthful counterparts.” Let’s simply keep in mind that anybody who’s 45 has most likely owned a smartphone longer than the “youthful counterparts” have been alive, and I feel they had been discovering the e-mail ship button simply effective, however I respect the consideration.

Google’s researchers had individuals fee the designs for sure attributes, together with these “Coolness Attributes” like “Stand Aside” and “Fascinating.” Nice! What the hell does that imply?

Apparently, Google thinks it’s an indicator that folks would possibly really be keen to change to Android based mostly on these designs. “We’ve additionally seen that this coolness isn’t only a self-importance metric, however a optimistic driver of behavioral intent, which means customers usually tend to wish to swap to a product with this design.”

There’s solely a lot Google can do. No quantity of vibrant coloration remedies and “fascinating” icons will change the truth that an Android proprietor continues to be the inexperienced bubble within the group chat.

Apple is aware of that locking individuals into iMessage is a big think about retaining them within the ecosystem, notably with the telephones individuals give their children. RCS has made cross-platform chats far more bearable, however we’re nonetheless not fairly at function parity — and people bubbles are nonetheless inexperienced.

Truthfully, I don’t hate Materials Three, and leaning right into a design that appears so totally different from iOS strikes me as a greater concept than making an iOS knockoff. However, no less than within the US market, a call by Apple to open iMessage and FaceTime would do extra to spice up Android gross sales than something Google’s designers can dream up.

Is that truthful? By no means, and regulators are attempting to do one thing about it. The UI glow-up doesn’t damage, however I don’t suppose this can be a scenario Google can design itself out of.