News

Google Kills Android Google Now Launcher

One of Google’s biggest strengths is how quickly they move into new areas that are being underserved. On the flip side, Google also often drops support for seemingly popular products only to replace it with a substandard replacement or not all. The latest project to get axed is the popular Google Now Launcher which is reportedly getting delisted from the Google Play Store sometime in Q1 2017.

According to letters being sent out to OEM partners, Google Now Launcher will continue to work on installed devices. However, once it is delisted, there will be no more updates for it. This leaves the Pixel Launcher as the only Google launcher left. Unfortunately for most users including Nexus ones, Pixel Launcher is only officially available for the Pixel lineup.

In addition to the many Nexus users including the barely a year old Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, they won’t be seeing any more updates or security fixes. This also leaves behind the over 50 million installed users of the Google Now Launcher. There is no word yet if the Pixel Launcher will be opened up to all phones as a replacement. Perhaps Google is planning on doing a massive rebrand like they always do and this is just an holding move.

Samuel Wan

Samuel joined eTeknix in 2015 after becoming engrossed in technology and PC hardware. With his passion for gaming and hardware, tech writing was the logical step to share the latest news with the world. When he’s not busy dreaming about the latest hardware, he enjoys gaming, music, camping and reading.

Disqus Comments Loading...

Recent Posts

Electronic Arts Titles Played for Over 11 Billion Hours in 2024

Electronic Arts (EA) announced today that its games were played for over 11 billion hours…

2 days ago

Just 15% of Steam Gaming Time in 2024 Was Spent on New Releases

Steam's annual end-of-year recap, Steam Replay, provides fascinating insights into gamer habits by comparing individual…

2 days ago

STALKER 2 Gets Massive 110GB Patch With 1800+ Fixes

GSC GameWorld released a major title update for STALKER 2 this seeking, bringing the game…

2 days ago

Intel Unveils Core 200H Processors Based on the Previous Raptor Lake Refresh

Without any formal announcement, Intel appears to have revealed its new Core 200H series processors…

3 days ago

Ubisoft Reportedly Developing a New Quadruple A Game

Ubisoft is not having the best of times, but despite recent flops, the company still…

3 days ago

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl Update 1.1 Fixes 1,800 Issues and Revamps A-Life 2.0

If you haven’t started playing STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl yet, now might be the…

3 days ago