A report claimed in the weeks preceding I/O 2019 that Google would make the Android Q beta available to a large number of non-Pixel devices, which is great news to any Android user looking to test Google’s latest operating system as fast as possible. It all started last year when Google announced at the same event that a handful of Android handsets made by its partners would be able to run the Android P beta. And Google has indeed outdone itself. We’re looking at 21 Android devices, from entry-level to 2019 flagships, that can download Android Q beta 3 right now, and only six of those are Pixels. That leaves 15 phones made by various companies, but, sadly, none of them is the Galaxy S10.
Google posted on its Android site the full list of devices that support the Android Q beta install right now, complete with download links for each of them.
What’s surprising in the list is that we’re not just looking at the latest flagships available in stores — like the Huawei Mate 20 Pro, LG G8 ThinQ, OnePlus 6T, Xiaomi Mi 9, Xiaomi Mi Mix 5G, Google Pixel 3, and Google Pixel 3XL.
We also have older flagships, including Google’s Pixel 2 series and even the first-gen Pixel models, a large variety of mid-rangers and even the Essential Phone, a device that saw poor sales. A device called Tecno Spark 3 Pro which features just 2GB of RAM and a MediaTek Helio MT6761 processor can also run Android Q beta 3.
Google can support such a wide Android Q beta rollout thanks to Project Treble, which is great news for Android and its massive fragmentation problem.
With all that in mind, it’s surprising not to see Samsung’s Galaxy S10 phones make the list, or any Samsung handsets. Samsung was notably absent from last year’s Android P beta test, and it looks like the company isn’t looking to support any beta releases on its flagship handsets.
Android Q will likely launch this summer on Pixel phones, and then make it to other Android handsets. The phones that support Android Q beta today will probably be among the first ones to run Google’s first official Android Q release. The Galaxy S10 series will probably get Android Q in early 2020, considering what Samsung did in previous years.
