Google previews Android 16’s desktop mode
Android’s long-awaited native desktop mode is finally coming to Android 16, and Google gave a sneak preview during its I/O 2025 developer keynote. It was co-developed alongside Samsung – a logical move given Samsung’s experience with DeX, which first launched on the Galaxy S8 series back in 2017. We got a glimpse of the upcoming desktop interface at the 20:54 mark in the video below.
Android’s native desktop mode looks similar to Chrome OS with a row of apps pinned in a taskbar on the bottom. We can see some of Google’s first-party apps like Gmail, Chrome, YouTube, and Google Photos all lined up.
Android 16 desktop mode
It will feature “enhanced windowing capabilities” and Google also confirmed that adaptive apps will automatically scale for desktop mode, Android Automotive and Android XR.
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Reader comments
- Anonymous
- 31 May 2025
- GBm
the most important feature would be USB-C dock functionality and high bandwidth image transmission. we have thunderbolt 4 which power and stream laptop images in high resolution already.
- xexe
- 29 May 2025
- p6Q
USB 2.0 itself it's not a problem. Base iPhone 15 and 16 have USB 2.0 and support DisplayPort Alt mode. The DP Alt mode is a problem because it's not mandatory to include support for it
- H50
- 27 May 2025
- XIs
Feels similar to chromeOS. Not a bad look, just interesting.
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